


How to be a Snitch

by iamjiwon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:03:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13632129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamjiwon/pseuds/iamjiwon
Summary: Set three years after the battle of Hogwarts. Hermione works at the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures. One day, she is called to resolve a conflict at the Holyhead Harpies' Quidditch pitch, where Ginny plays as a seeker. A curious incident, a strange prediction and a certain Weasley turn Hermione's life upside down. Femslash, rated M for later Chapters.





	1. Another Ordinary Day

Chapter 1: Another Ordinary Day

It was a cloudy and chilly November morning when Hermione stepped out of her small flat in London and started her short walk to the Ministry of Magic, where she worked. More than three years had passed after the battle of Hogwarts. Hermione had celebrated her twenty second birthday this year and finished her job training at the ministry a few months ago. The training would take three years in regular cases, Hermione however had managed to complete it in less than two. This was of course thanks to her above average magical abilities as well as her diligence in studying.

The decision to work at the ministry had been a rather easy one. After the war, she had found herself not only physically but also emotionally exhausted. She simply did not have any energy left to think about things likes dreams or ambitions. When Kingsley Shacklebolt had offered to take her in as a ministry official after her last year at Hogwarts, she had agreed without further thinking. But she did not regret her choice as the Ministry job training provided her with the opportunity to forget all the ordeals and grievances from the past years, allowing her to only concentrate on acquiring the needed skills.

After completing her final year at Hogwarts and – of course – receiving only Os in all her N.E.W.T.s, she had moved out of her parent's house, whose memories she had restored, and into her own small flat just a fifteen minutes' walk away from the Ministry. It was located in a magic building, so it looked extremely shabby and neglected from the outside, but quite roomy and clean from the inside. It was visible to Muggles, but protected by several charms and spells preventing any non-magical being from entering.

Having her own place was nice, but quite lonely sometimes. Harry was busy with his Auror-training which required him to go abroad often and Ron had become George's new partner at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, after he had quit Auror-training last year. Hermione was really busy with her work as well, so meeting with both of her best friends altogether had become a rare occasion. She did not mind being alone though, because it enabled her to put in a few extra hours of work or research when needed.

Thinking of Ron made Hermione sigh and she recalled their unfortunate 'relationship'. During their sixth year as well as during the time they had hunted down Horcruxes, she had been convinced that she was in love with Ron and would end up marrying him. But soon after the war, she realized that neither of them could become happy with the other. At least not as lovers. They were too different and though it felt nice to be around Ron, she could not feel much of a difference compared to the sibling-like relationship with Harry. Even though she had never experienced what people called 'true love', she knew that this was not it. So eventually she had broken up with Ron. It had taken him about a year to accept their breakup, but now they were doing well as friends again. Just as friends.

Hermione took a thoughtful look up at the sky, which was covered in grey clouds and it made her feel a little lost. She sighed once more as she kept on walking. Of course, she could just use the floo network and apparate into the ministry as everyone else did, but these walks in the morning gave her the chance to organize her thoughts and prepare mentally for the day.

She thought about the tasks awaiting her today. After completing job training she had started to work as a legal advisor at the Department for The Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Her job was to write reports about occurrences or accidents involving magical creatures and suggesting measures based on wizarding law. Sometimes she also had to go to the scene of occurrence to assess the situation better or help out colleagues. Only a few days ago, she and her colleagues had been called to investigate a case where merpeople were spotted in a public Muggle swimming pool, which had caused her quite some headache. The merpeople insisted that they needed the space as it was the perfect temperature for them in this cold weather. Getting them to acknowledge that the chlorine inside the pool might not be the best environment for them, Hermine had finally managed to convince them to get out of there. They had to obliviate quite a few Muggles afterwards, some of them so shocked they had fainted. Writing the report had put another few hours on her overtime-work-meter. The overtime-work-meter was hanging at her department's office wall and it was similarly structured as the house-points hourglasses in Hogwarts. One hour of overtime work equaled one small pearl added to the meter, so people could easily spot who worked most. Hermine was in second place coming only short to her boss, a middle-aged witch called Martina Woodstock.

Today, Hermione thought, she would probably be able to leave a little earlier. Getting a few standard procedures done and then she would maybe even have some time to work on the brochure about house elves' rights she was preparing. Unfortunately, she did not have much time for this in general, even though this was supposed to be her main project for which she had been placed in the department. Hermione sighted once more while stroking some of her wavy hair, behind her ears. Then she disappeared behind a big trash container and disapparated.

Accompanied by a faint noise she apparated into the ministry's atrium. It pretty much looked the same as a few years ago, the only difference was that the horrible statue of wizards dominating Muggles had been replaced by a giant statue of Harry, holding the elder wand, a determined expression on his face. This made Hermione smile for the first time today, since she knew how much Harry hated this statue. It was always funny remembering his shocked reaction when he first saw it.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Granger", said a voice behind her. Hermione turned and recognized Sera Lencer, who worked closely with her at the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures. He was only a few years older than her, but very formal and a little old-fashioned. He insisted on calling her Miss Granger, though she called him Sera. He was tall and very good looking. His blue eyes matched his dark blonde hair which was parted on one side. For a wizard, he dressed extremely well – though formal and a little stiff – too, so many younger witches at the ministry had tried to woo him. He, however, seemed not that interested or was simply too busy to notice this, Hermione was not quite sure. Sometimes, however, she wondered why she did not feel the slightest desire to woo him as well. Maybe she was just to occupied with her own life too much.

"Morning Sera, how are you today?" she replied and smiled a little.

"I cannot complain, though I really need some sleep", he replied. "A day without any reports to file would be nice for a change."

"Yeah, I totally agree with that, I really want to continue working on my House Elves' rights brochure", Hermione said while they were walking towards the elevator.

"You think too much about work, Miss Granger", Sera said in a serious voice, which carried a slightly scolding undertone.

"I want to change something about wizard society, Sera, or at least at the ministry. Our society still needs a lot of improvement, I'd say", she defended herself. She pressed the button for level four, where their department was located. A few other wizards entered after them and as always, a handful of flying notes as well. "I came to the ministry to make an impact, to improve things," she continued. "I should work hard and become an important witch in the ministry in order to do that. So, working a lot, maybe even a lot more than others, is the inevitable thing to do."

Sera did not say anything, but only looked at her, obviously pondering on what she said. This is what she liked about him. He was a really thoughtful person and preferred to think about things thoroughly. Sometimes, he replied to something she said days after their conversation had taken place.

The elevator's ping indicated that they had arrived at the forth level and doors opened. They stepped outside and entered their office. Their boss, department chief Mrs. Martina Woodstock, was already there, greeting them with a nod. Hermione was still not sure what to think of her boss. Sometimes she seemed friendly and approachable, sometimes she basically ignored Hermione. Hermione still had no clue why she did that.

Hermione sat on her desk and started reviewing the report she had written about the merpeople incident for the last time. She worked for about an hour correcting some things here and there and then walked over to Mrs. Woodstock's office. She knocked and entered right away as it was usual in their department.

"Come in, Miss Granger", she said in an indifferent voice. "Ah the report about the merpeople incident, thank you. I'll check it later and let you know if there is a problem. But as it is you, who wrote it, I expect there to be none".

"T-thank you", Hermione uttered a little surprised by the compliment.

Mrs. Woodstock started laughing. "I am sorry, Miss Granger, you must have thought I ignored you or similar, right? Well, you should know that I usually do this to people coming into our department to see if they are able to work here properly. If someone gets upset about their boss ignoring or not liking them, how are they going to deal with all the creatures and the trouble they sometimes cause? But I observed you long enough, you're more than qualified for the job. So, I'll pay more attention to what you have to say from now on, Miss Granger". Mrs. Woodstock smiled slightly and put Hermione's report on a pile of what seemed to be more reports about other incidents.

"Okay, that's great", Hermione replied, though she did not quite know what to think of Mrs. Woodstock's approach to new employees.

Hermione headed towards the door, but stopped midway and turned around once more. "Mrs. Woodstock?"

"Yes?", Mrs. Woodstock replied and looked up from her desk.

"Uhm… do you think it would be possible, if I worked on the house elves' rights brochure today? I really want to make some progress and lately has been rather busy, so I could not work on it for more than an hour or so a week…"

"Ah right, the brochure, I remember. This is supposed to be your main project, right? Okay, as long as no other occurrence is reported today, go ahead", Mrs. Woodstock replied.

"Thank you, you'll be very pleased with the brochure when it's finished", Hermione replied with an exited smile and left the office.

She was glad to finally be able to work on her project, since it was her major field of interest and one of the first things she wanted to change about wizarding society, if she ever got the chance. Improving House Elves' rights and creating a law that punished their mistreatment or abuse would be a major breakthrough.

Happily, Hermione strode over to her desk and pulled the parchment with her first drafts of the brochure out of the top drawer.

However, after only a few minutes she was suddenly interrupted. A seagull shaped Patronus burst into the office. Hermione recognized it as belonging to one of the emergency forces' officials from their department. She sighed in surrender, because she knew what it meant. She had seen it countless times by now.

"An incident occurred, we need assistance", said the Patronus in the official's voice. "A conflict between wizards and House Elves is taking place on the Holyhead Harpies' Quidditch pitch. We need at least two people to help assess the situation and file the reports."

Mrs. Woodstock stuck her head out of her office and called: "Granger, Lencer, you know what to do!".

Hermione sighed again and got up. She had already lost count of how many times she had sighed. So, again no time to work on her project today.

But wait? Holyhead Harpies? Quidditch pitch? Isn't that Ginny Weasley's team? The sudden realization hit her the moment she disapparated.


	2. Falling for you

Chapter 2 – Falling for you

Hermione and Sera apparated right to the middle of the Quidditch pitch where the Holyhead Harpies used to train. It was located way north of London, in the northwest of Wales, so the first thing Hermione noticed was a significant drop in temperature. She shivered as she looked around to assess the situation.

It took her a few moments to take in what was playing out before her eyes. First, she noticed the players on brooms, flying some dozens of feet above her head. Well, nothing unusual for a Quidditch pitch. Then her gaze fell on the team of players, standing in some distance and gazing up at the sky. Wait, but weren't they the ones supposed to be up there? Hermione looked up at the figures riding the brooms again and narrowed her eyes trying to make out something. And then she realized that not witches but house elves were riding the brooms, rushing from one corner of the pitch to the other. What was going on?

"Granger, Lancer, over here!", their department's emergency squad leader Mr. Raymond Timber called. He was standing next to the group of players, a dozen of women, including reserve players, and waving to them.

Hermione and Sera, who seemed as confused as she was, hurriedly headed over to them.

Before anyone could say something, a familiar voice called "Hermione!". Hermione turned her head and saw Ginny Weasley standing among the group of players. She was waving and smiling at her.

A pleasant feeling of familiarity paired with something like excitement as well as relief overcame her. She had not been able to see Ginny, one of her best friends apart from Ron and Harry, for months. Seeing her after all this time made her realize how much she had missed her.

Hermione wanted to go over to the redhead and hug her tightly, but she thought it inappropriate in front of her colleagues, so she suppressed the urge and instead just smiled and nodded in Ginny's direction.

Then she turned to Mr. Timber. "What is happening?" she asked. "House Elves on brooms?!"

"Indeed, a very odd occurrence, right?" Mr. Timber replied and explained further: "We got called here about fifteen minutes ago. The players told me that they noticed their brooms had disappeared from where they usually store them. They went to the pitch to find out what happened and discovered this." He looked up at the sky while talking.

"But why…", Hermione uttered.

"They are House Elves serving our team", a woman standing in the center of the team suddenly said. She was tall and lean, not exactly pretty, but her eyes were rather beautiful, Hermione noticed. She had to be the captain. "Most professional Quidditch teams have their own House Elves to take care of meals and other chores during our training sessions. They are usually very obedient, but today they suddenly did not listen to us when we ordered them to come down from there."

"So, what might be the reason for that?", Hermione asked her.

"We have no idea", the woman replied and shrugged.

"Did you maybe mistreat them, so they are kind of…starting a rebellion?", Hermione asked with an accusatory undertone. There had to be a reason for the elves' behavior and usually it was the wizards rather than the elves who did wrong.

"No, Hermione", Ginny spoke out, "We treat them very well and try to give orders nicely and everything. They once even told me how much they like working for us".

Hermione pondered a little over this. As no one was speaking she spoke up again: "Uhm…don't you think they might, you know…want to try Quidditch? I mean, maybe they just want to have some…fun?" Hermione looked up at them again. Though she could not see how anyone could have fun swooshing through the cold air like that, it might be possible that the house elves had developed the desire to try flying themselves after observing the witches doing it every day.

"Nooo way", Mr. Timber replied, half serious half suppressing a laugh. "House Elves wanting to play Quidditch? Ridiculous!"

Hermione felt anger boiling up inside her since he was dismissing her remark so easily. Stubbornly, she replied: "Then let me check that for myself. Someone hand me a broom. I'll go up and ask them." Her inner voice told her how crazy she was and how much she would regret this, because she absolutely hated flying. However, her stubbornness was stronger.

"Don't you think, we didn't already consider this?", the captain asked. "They took all available brooms, we do not have one here and the Accio spell does not work around the pitch because of security regulations."

"No problem", Hermione just said and started rummaging in her small bag which she had always with her. Of course, it was the expandable bag which had helped her as well as her friends so much during the last years. Triumphantly she pulled out the broom she had stored in there – just in case if she ever needed one. It was old and obviously worn out, but broom is broom right? She had never understood all the fuzz about Firebolts and whatever.

Hermione mounted the broom and said: "I will check with the House Elves and report back to you, Mr. Timber".

"Hermione, wait-", she heard Ginny's voice, but too late, Hermione had already pushed herself from the grass. She felt shaky and extremely insecure sitting on the broomstick. Luckily, the elves were not flying that high, so Hermione drew near them really quickly.

As she approached, she noticed the distressed expressions on the house elves' faces. That was not what she had expected. As she was approaching the elf flying the lowest, she called out: "Hello?! Are you okay? I am Hermione Granger from the Department of the Regulation of Magical Creatures, Ministry of Magic!"

The elf, a female and rather old, looked at her with a horrified expression. She didn't reply.

"What's your name?", Hermione tried again.

"Minky is my name, Miss Granger", the elf replied as tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Why are you up here?", Hermione asked, her heart aching as she saw the expression on the elf's face.

"Me is punishing myself, Miss", the elf replied. "While cleaning our Misses' brooms we accidentally put some scratches on them. Us was feeling very bad and ashamed, Miss. Because the brooms is our mistresses' most valuable possession. So, us are punishing ourselves." Minky shuddered as she remembered their mistake.

"But why are you punishing yourself like this?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

"Because it is the most serious punishment us could imagine", Minky replied. "House Elves is not supposed to be up here. Us feel very badly sick when being up too high."

Hermione thought this over for a few seconds. Then she called against the wind: "But when are you going down again?"

In the meantime, the other elves had drawn nearer, listening to what she was saying.

"After us receiving enough punishment", Minky replied and clutched the broom tighter.

"But your mistresses want to ride their brooms, don't you think?", Hermione said, trying to sound as friendly as possible, which was not easy, because she started feeling rather sick now. "They would be unhappy, if they cannot do their training, won't they? You want them to be happy, right? So, go down and give them back their brooms. I swear they won't be mad at you!", Hermione lied, hoping it would turn out like that.

Mingky seemed to think about the option for a few seconds and then – finally – started to descend on her broom. The other elves followed her. Hermione watched them in relief and prepared to get herself down there too.

Suddenly, however, a strong gust hit her right from the left making her loose hold of the broomstick. She reached out for the stick but missed it only so slightly. She slipped towards the end of the broomstick and then she realized in horror that she was falling.

So, that was it. Hermione Jean Granger, twenty two years old, died on the job. She had not even managed to finish the house elves' rights brochure. What a pity.

Cold air was rushing through her clothes and hair as she was drawn towards the ground. She could feel stinging, shaking and then – arms. Someone had caught her!

She opened her eyes and stared at – Ginny, who had pulled Hermione on her broomstick, holding her with one arm while clutching on to the stick with her free hand. She looked shocked and surprised. "Hermione!", she cried "What were you thinking, you stupid girl?!". Hermione could hear concern but also a little bit of anger in the redhead's voice. "You should have let me do that! For heaven's sake! You are lucky that one of the house elves had already got off his broom when I saw you falling!"

Hermione did not say anything but just continued staring at Ginny. Had she always been that pretty? Hell, what was she thinking now. She had nearly died! But Ginny's eyes…they were really beautiful, colored in shades of coffee and chocolate. And her hair…it had grown by a few inches and was waving behind her back as they flew. And-

"Hermione!?", Ginny shouted, looking more concerned than angry now. "Are you okay, why don't you say anything?!"

"I-I'm okay…I guess", Hermione finally uttered as she finally began to realize the seriousness of the situation she had herself maneuvered into.

A few seconds later they landed on the grass and both girls got off the broom. Hermione's legs were shaking when she faced the crowd staring at her.

"Are you okay, Miss Granger?" Sera asked in a concerned voice.

"Uhm…yeah I'm fine", Hermione replied, starting to feel embarrassed. Seriously, what had she been thinking?

She explained the situation to everyone and fortunately the team members understood the House Elves' reasoning and assured them that everything would be okay and that they could remove the scratches by magic. Hermione and Sera took some notes for their report, then Mr. Timber said: "Matter solved, everyone go back now. And Miss Granger? Take the rest of the day off and rest. This was a rather big shock for you I guess. Even though I don't approve of your methods, you solved the matter, so good work. See you next time." Then he disapparated.

"He is right, take some rest", Sera said and disapparated as well.

Ginny, still standing next to Hermione, grabbed her by the arm. "Don't worry about the House Elves anymore, my teammates will take care of that. Let's go somewhere and eat. I reckon you should calm down a little and have something delicious. I know a really nice place around here. Let's go!" The second she finished, she performed side-along disapparation, leaving Hermione no chance to protest.


	3. I'll Just Have One Drink Tonight

Chapter 3 – I'll Just Have One Drink Tonight

Hermione and Ginny apparated in front of an old-looking, small building which was located on top of a hill, nothing but grass and a few trees her and there surrounding it.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked.

"Just a few miles from the pitch", Ginny replied and smiled at her. "This place has really nice pasta. It is run by an Italian wizard, so the taste is authentic I guess. I figure you could need something like this after the shock." Her voice still sounded concerned.

"Thank you, Ginny, I think you're right", Hermione replied. "Though I actually have some work to do, but maybe-"

"Enough nonsense. You are not going back to work today, Hermione Jean Granger!", Ginny replied with a stern voice, which made her sound almost like her mother, Molly Weasley.

"Alright, alright", Hermione lifted her hands in surrender. "And Ginny, thank you so much. I think you saved my life today. How can I ever thank you enough for that?"

"Don't talk nonsense", Ginny put her off with a smile. "You helped me so much in the past. No need to thank me. You should get over the shock, so let's not talk about it for today." She tightened the grip around Hermione's arm but not in a unpleasant way.

"Let's go", Ginny said happily and dragged Hermione into the restaurant. It was indeed a nice place. Comfortable and warm. A small tree grew in the middle of the room and a few strings of fairy lights were attached to its branches. Oh, and some real fairies were actually buzzing around the tree giving off their typical sound. A few other people were eating and chatting at the wooden tables placed around the tree.

They sat down at a table located in a corner and Ginny called out the waiter immediately. She obviously knew what to order.

"Two spicy seafood pastas, please. And two butterbeer as well."

"Butterbeer and pasta?", Hermione gave her a questioning look.

"I know, the combination is weird, but believe me, it's just what you need."

They fell silent for a moment, each of them in thought.

"So…", Ginny eventually said, "it has been some time, huh? I mean, since we last saw each other?"

Hermione felt a little embarrassed and avoided the redhead's gaze. Ginny had send her an owl from time to time during those last months, suggesting a meeting, but Hermione had been busy, so she had rejected her offer several times.

"I am sorry", she said and detached her gaze from the table looking in Ginny's eyes. They were certainly very beautiful. And suddenly she realized once again how much she had missed her friend. Ginny's presence alone made her feel more comfortable than she had during all those months. "You know I am very busy at work, all these reports and I really want to get promoted quickly, so I have to work overtime and-"

"And you think you'll become happy?" Ginny cut her off. "Working all the time, being stressed out, not meeting your friends, spending the evening in the Ministry or alone at your flat? Hermione, of course work is important, but don't forget to live your life!"

These words and the concerned expression on Ginny's face made Hermione even more embarrassed. But she did not really see how she was not living her life, since she was doing all this to be able to make a difference, to improve things. This was what she wanted, so she was living her life, right?

"I am sorry", Hermione repeated. "I should have met you more often. I missed you, seriously."

"I missed you too", Ginny replied. There was another silence, which felt more awkward as the first one. Luckily, their food came out at that very moment, not brought by the waiter, but appearing on the plates in front of them. It was indeed really delicious and the combination of warm and spicy caused the tension in Hermione to disappear slowly. And to her surprise, the butterbeer went along with the food really well, providing relief when the spiciness was too much for her.

The two women chatted lightly while eating, talking about Hermione's work as well as the latest news from Ginny's career as a professional Quidditch player. According to Ginny, the Harpies had won all but one of their games in this season so far. However, they did not face off against the best teams in the league yet, so she was worried that the team's winning streak would be over soon. Hermione tried to cheer her up by assuring what a great Seeker Ginny was, but since she knew not enough about Quidditch, her arguments seemed rather weak. Ginny appeared to be happy about Hermione's support though and her mood improved significantly.

"You know, I am really glad we met today", Ginny said and smiled at Hermione cheerfully. "Even if you did not show up voluntarily."

Hermione blushed and replied apologetically: "Stop it, will you. I will get in touch more often from now on, I swear."

"Maybe I should have dated Harry a little longer," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Then I would have been able to meet you more often."

"Don't be silly!", Hermione reprimanded. "Everyone knows you weren't happy with him, so you did well not to wait too long before breaking up. And I don't see Harry that often either. I really miss him, though." Hermione sighed and her smile disappeared from her face.

Ginny reached out for Hermione's hand and rubbed it slightly. The gesture was warm and comforting, but it also made Hermione a little sad since she could not remember the last time someone had hold her hand. It might have been months.

"Try to meet your friends a little more often and stop to bury yourself in work, Hermione", Ginny said. "Go outside, meet people and have a little fun once in a while." Ginny's eyes started to twinkle and a mischievous grin spread over her face. "Let's start today!" She pulled something out of her bag which looked like a galleon, wait, it was a galleon…the Dumbledore's Army galleon in fact. Hermione started to realize what Ginny was up to. "Ginny, you don't need to-" But the redhead had already activated the spell.

A few seconds later, the restaurant's door opened and Luna Lovegood entered, walking straight towards their table. "Ginny, you're lucky I just came back home from my research excursion, you won't believe it, I think I spotted a new kind of Wrackspurt, a little smaller than the ones around here!" Her voice was dreamily. Then her gaze fell on Hermione and her eyes widened a little

"Hermione! It must have been ages! So good to see you!", she walked over to her and hugged her tightly. Hermione was a little taken aback, but she was happy to see Luna too. It had been more than two years she last saw her at their graduation ceremony. Yet, the blonde girl looked just the same. Only her earrings had changed. It looked like two miniature eggplants were hanging from the girl's earlobes. But the color went nicely with Luna's skin, so Hermione did find it rather pretty than weird.

Luna sat down at the table next to Ginny and only ordered a butter beer. "I already had lunch", she explained. "So, what's up?", she asked looking at Ginny and then at Hermione.

"Hermione here needs a little fun I figured, so I called my best friends to lighten up the mood", Ginny grinned at Luna. "And maybe we can go to that pub we went the other day?", her grin widened as she seemed to remember something Hermione did not know about.

"The 'Giant's Belly'?", Luna snickered. "Well, I don't mind."

"Luna thinks the bartender is really cute", Ginny explained to Hermione.

Before Hermione could reply, the opening of the door pronounced the arrival of someone else. "Hey everyone", a handsome-looking Neville said while looking around a little bashfully. When had he become so good-looking? He had grown a little more muscle and his facial features did look nothing like the clumsy, slightly chubby boy he had used to be.

"Oh, hello Hermione, it has been a while, has it?", he smiled at her and the familiar gesture made Hermione feel all warm inside. Only now did she realize how much she had missed everyone.

They chatted for a while and drank more butterbeer. Luna had become a naturalist, travelling around the country and sometimes even abroad to collect information about known and unknown magical creatures with the aim to publish a new encyclopedia, kind of an updated 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Sometimes she published some of her findings in the Quibbler, which was selling better than ever, making her father really happy. Neville had been doing pretty much the same but with magical herbs and plants. He now considered to apply for the teaching post for Herbology at Hogwarts, since Professor Sprout would retire next year.

Ginny talked a little more of Quidditch and Hermione told them about her work at the ministry and the latest occurrences they had dealt with in her department. Listening to everyone else's stories made her feel a little strange. It sounded like everyone was doing what they had dreamt of, but why did it seem to Hermione that this was not the case for herself? Before she could ponder more on this question however, Ginny got up and said: "Let's go to the Giant's Belly and have a few more drinks!"

Neville and Luna cheered and got up as well. "Come on Hermione!" Hermione gut up hesitantly. Drinks at a pub? So, they might be drinking something stronger than butter beer. Would she be able to handle that? She wasn't really much of a drinker. Whatever, she thought. Having a little fun once in a while could not hurt. She would have a little fun today and concentrate on work tomorrow. "Let's go", she said and they went outside to disapparate.

They apparated in front of the "Giant's Belly", which lay in a small Muggle village close to the Harpies' Quidditch pitch. It seemed to be invisible to muggles as several of them just passed its front door not looking at it at all.

They entered and sat down at a table near the window. The place was comfortable and warm, just perfect for the kind of weather outside. Everything was made of dark wood and candles lit the room.

"Why is this place called 'Giant's Belly'", Hermione wondered aloud.

"The owner claims he could make so much food in a day to satisfy even the greatest giant", Luna explained. "I am not sure though. They eat a lot, those giants."

They ordered a bottle of fire whiskey and fried pumpkin slices as a side dish. Hermione looked over at the bar tender, who looked quite handsome indeed. Not her type though.

"He is married I heard", Luna explained following Hermione's gaze. "I have to find someone else I guess."

"You can easily find someone", Neville said and poured everyone a glass of fire whiskey. "You are really pretty and lovable."

"So why don't you have a try, Neville?", Hermione asked him teasingly and grinned.

Neville sighed and looked sad suddenly. "Neville, I am sorry, did I say something I shouldn't have?", Hermione said, surprised about the sudden change in the young man's expression.

"No, Hermione, it's okay." He set the shot glass on his lips and devoured everything in one gulp. Then he looked Hermione right in the eyes and said: "There is someone I like, but they will never like me back." He poured himself another glass and Luna, who was sitting next to him stroked his back lightly.

"I am sorry to hear that", Hermione said a little taken aback by his behavior. "But…are you sure, you don't have a chance with her?"

Neville seemed to tense as she said those words. Did she say something wrong again?

"The person I like is…not a woman. It's a man…a-and it's…Harry…" He said in a shaking voice, his hands trembling slightly.

Hermione just stared at him as her thoughts were racing. Wait, what? Neville liked Harry? But Harry was a man… Well, okay so Neville was gay. That was unexpected but she did not have any ill-feelings about that, so okay. But the fact he liked Harry?

"But Harry is not gay", she muttered more to herself than to Harry. Neville heard her though and winced. "Oh sorry, Neville, I am sorry."

"He is still a little sensitive to the word 'gay'", Luna explained as she kept stroking Neville's back. "Took him quite a while to say it out aloud. And of course, we all know that Harry's not gay, but you cannot change your feelings so easily."

"We keep telling him to get over it, though", Ginny said. "I bet there is a really handsome and nice young wizard out there who was made just for him."

They fell silent for a few moments each of them looking down on their glasses.

Neville was the first one to interrupt the silence. "So, Hermione…" Hermione looked at him trying to smile. "Yes?"

"So, you're okay with it? With me b-being g-gay, I mean".

Hermione laughed because Neville looked so seriously worried it was almost cute. "Oh Neville! Of course! Don't worry, you're one of my best friends even though we didn't see each other much lately. That won't change."

Neville looked relieved and smiled happily. "Thanks."

"So that means we are all single right now?", Luna looked at Hermione quizzingly.

"Yes, I am not seeing anyone", Hermione replied. "I was too busy with studying and working, so there was no one after Ron. The relationship was not a serious one anyways. I think we just dated because of the emotional stress during the year before the battle against You-Know-Who. It made me feel a little better, but it wasn't love. At least I think so."

"So, you were never in love?", Luna asked a little surprised. "Don't you want to know what it feels like?"

"Well I am kind of curious, but I don't really need anyone right now. I am too busy working and trying to complete my House Elves project. Dating anyone is not really on the top of my agenda at the moment."

"But do you feel happy with that?", Neville asked.

"I am not unhappy", Hermione replied. "At least it's better than suffering from unrequited love, I guess?" She said it in a caring manner, so Neville was not offended by her words.

"Well, you might be right", Neville replied. "I started liking Harry when we started Dumbledore's Army and feel rather miserable since. But it also makes me feel alive somehow. Weird isn't it? I should really get over him though. Ginny and Luna are right."

"Of course we are," Ginny said and smiled at him. They drank their shots and Neville poured everyone another glass. "Thanks", Hermione said. She could feel the strong whiskey burning in her throat even minutes after drinking. She was starting to feel a little hot and lightheaded even though she did not have drunk much yet. The lack of 'training' was obvious.

"So, Ginny, did you think about what we discussed the other time?", Luna asked looking at Ginny. Ginny suddenly blushed, her cheeks almost as red as her hair. The three friends seemed to meet often as they apparently discussed really personal matters, Hermione thought.

Ginny cast a glance at Hermione looking nervous before she replied: "Well…your assumption might be true, Luna."

"I knew it!" Luna exclaimed. "Seeing all those wrackspurts that were infesting your head and how you talked about that captain of yours, it was rather obvious." She grinned, apparently content with herself.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked curiously. "Did I miss something?"

"Well", Neville replied. "We were talking with Ginny about her ideal-type the other day since she has been single for a while now, but she seemed not really be able to come up with a clear description of a guy. And Luna here noticed that she had some trouble organizing her thoughts about the matter."

"So we asked her to describe her team members to us,", Luna continued the explanation. "It was just a test, a thought of mine, but it worked really well. She could describe everyone using lots of details and she seemed particularly euphoric in describing the Harpies' captain, so…yeah."

"I don't really understand," Hermione said confusedly. Ginny was rocking in her seat clearly uncomfortable and avoiding her gaze.

"Hermione, I thought you were the brightest witch of our age," Neville said teaslingly.

"Well uhm…", Ginny uttered finally saying something for herself. "Well, I…I…umh…so Luna voiced the assumption, that…I…that I might be into g-girls." Ginny blushed even more before hiding her face in her hands avoiding everyone's gaze. "Now! I said it!", she said, her voice muffled by her hands. "But I am not interested in the captain", she said, spreading her fingers a little to give a glance at Luna. "She's not my type."

Hermione was a little shocked. Okay, so Neville liked boys. But Ginny liking girls? She reached for her glass and drank the fire whiskey in one shot. Well, thinking about it, the redhead had dated some boys including Harry. But she had never seemed really sad when she broke up with them. She also never heard Ginny talking about her boyfriends when they were not around. But Hermione had just assumed that she did not met the right person yet.

"Ginny", Hermione spoke up. "Stop hiding your face. It's okay. We still all love you. I think it will take me some time to get used to all the stuff I heard today, but who you like is your business and does not change anything about you. Don't worry. And don't be ashamed."

Ginny slowly lowered her hands, still looking extremely bashful. "Thank you, Hermione", she said smiling shyly at her. Her smile was really pretty, Hermione thought suddenly.

"After Luna told me about her thoughts, I started to wonder if she might be right and I think she is", Ginny explained. "When I walk past a pretty woman I look at her. And when I think about being in a relationship, I cannot picture myself with a man anymore. It's weird. I didn't want to acknowledge it at first, but I think I cannot be happy with a man. I also rethought my past relationships and I realized that I just dated out of curiosity."

"So time to find you someone", Neville said and grinned.

"No need for that, Neville", Ginny replied bashfully. "I should just concentrate on Quidditch."

"Alright", Neville replied. "But what would be your ideal type though? Just curious."

Ginny pondered over this for a few moments while staring at her shot glass. Hermione reached for a piece of fried pumkin. She suddenly felt a little nervous and needed something to calm her nerves. But why did she feel nervous?

"My ideal type", Ginny finally started explaining "I guess would be someone who is intelligent, passionate and loves me for who I am. Someone who is serious at the right moments but also has a funny side to them." She stopped, thinking some more. "Oh, and for physical appearance, I prefer brown eyes over blue or green ones. Oh, and I like long wavy hair I think."

Neville and Luna opened their mouth but did not say anything. They stared at Ginny and then moved their head towards Hermione in unison.

"Didn't you just describe Hermione?", they asked simultaneously.

Wait, what?


	4. Like those good old times

Chapter 4 – Like Those Good Old Times

One week after her adventure at the Quidditch pitch and the night out with her friends, Hermione was once again walking towards the ministry while looking up at the sky as usual. December had come and the weather was chillier now, so she could see her breath forming a transparent white cloud as it came from her mouth. A few remaining leaves were swirling through the air carried by a strong wind, which made Hermione shiver despite the thick cloak.

One of the leaves caught her eye, because it was of a beautiful and rich red color, contrasting the brown grayish ones surrounding it. Hermione smiled, because the color reminded her of Ginny somehow.

Her thoughts traveled back to the evening one week ago. After Ginny had described what her ideal type was like, Neville and Luna had assumed that she was describing Hermione. But Ginny had just laughed at them. Hermione had come to her help affirming that she was first of all not interested in girls and secondly that there were so many girls with long wavy hair and brown eyes out there. Neville and Luna had exchanged some more looks but then they had moved on to other topics. Hermione had noticed that there was a slightly hurt expression on Ginny's face but she did not elaborate on it because the alcohol had seriously started impairing her thinking.

Another cold wind swept around Hermione as she proceeded into the street where she usually disapparated to the ministry. Thinking about that evening with her friends made her happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because she had felt loved and welcomed for the first time in ages, sad, because she now more than ever started to realize how boring her life was right now. Maybe she should really start to look out for someone, trying to get to know that thing people called love. But how? And with whom? She could not think of any man who stirred her interest in such a way. And maybe she did not really need love in a romantic way at all right now. Maybe it was better to focus on her friends first. She really had to meet Ginny more often. The redhead had helped her to forget about work for a bit and she had felt relaxed and comforted around her.

Maybe Hermione could even help Ginny to find some nice girl to go on a date with. Like real friends do. She thought about that for a while but it somehow made her feel weird. Imagining some girl at Ginny's side just didn't seem right. Maybe she had just not yet get used to the fact the redhead liked girls? That must be it.

Hermione shook off these thoughts and tried to focus on work instead. Today would probably be like any other day. Getting called somewhere, filing reports, run some errands for her supervisor. Probably no time for her project. She sighed wearily as she did so often lately. She did not even realize she was sighing anymore, because she had become so used to the action.

Hermione disapparated and a few seconds later she found herself in the Ministry of Magic's atrium hall surrounded by a buzzing crowd of witches and wizards on their way to their respective departments. As every morning, she walked past the statue of Harry, met Sera on her way to the elevator and pressed the button for level four.

Hermione's day started quite as usual. She greeted everyone and had a quick chat with Ms. Woodstock, who had scolded Hermione about the broom incident a little, but was pleased with the quick resolution of the matter. After their talk, Hermione sat down in front of her desk drawing her wand and performing a few organizing spells since a lot of files had been dropped on the desk by her colleagues during the last few days. She had invented some of these spells herself and was quite proud of them because they enabled the user to organize files by a selected category in a matter of seconds. After organizing her files in order of importance she started to read over them making a few amendments here and there.

However, her day was soon to be turned to the worse. Or even the worst.

About eleven o'clock there was a sudden and forceful knock on the door, which made Hermione flinch so much she lost grip on her quill. As everyone else in the office, she turned her head towards the door wondering who it could be.

The door opened and a woman entered. Hermione's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. What the bloody-?! It had to be an illusion. It was an illusion, right? No, it just couldn't be! The woman who entered was no other than Pansy Parkinson! The person Hermione hated more than Malfoy, more than Lord Voldemort himself even!

Hermione's mouth stood still open as she tried to comprehend the situation.

"Good morning", Pansy said smiling in a way that made Hermione's stomach cringe. "My name is Pansy Parkinson and today is my first day in your department. I am looking forward to work with all of you." She looked around and her gaze fell on Hermione. Her face lost composure for a moment, apparently surprised to see Hermione in the office. But it lasted only for the fraction of a second; the fake-smile was back on her face before anyone but Hermione had noticed the sudden change in expression.

"Ah Miss Parkinson, right", Mrs. Woodstock said and shook Pansy's hand. "You transferred from the department of Magical Transportation, isn't it?"

"Yes, exactly," Pansy replied. "I have worked in the Portkey Office after my job-training, but I applied to this position a while ago, since I think it matches my interests and abilities better." She smiled even more slyly and Hermione had to keep herself from running up to her and punch her in the face as she had done with Malfoy in third year. She usually was not a violent person, but seeing Pansy here of all places after all the cruelties and bullying she had suffered from that girl, made her fume with anger. How come she was even here anyways? Wasn't her family one of the ones who had been punished after the war? But come to think of it, Pansy was clearly mean and evil, yet, Hermione could not recall any mention of her or someone from her family being a death eater.

"You might know Miss Granger here", Mrs. Woodstock said and made a gesture towards Hermione. "Like you, she also finished her job training in less than two years. I am really pleased to have two outstanding witches working here at my office."

"Is that so?", Pansy replied still smiling wider than necessary. Her eyes met Hermione's. "How lovely." It made Hermione shudder, but she tried to look strong and confident not wanting to show any signs of weakness since it could have fatal consequences.

Mrs. Woodstock continued to speak, clearly not having any clue what was going on between the two young women: "Even though it won't be your main task, sometimes we might need you to revise reports written by our colleagues Miss Granger and Mr. Lencer, so it would be best if you'd acquire some general knowledge about our reports system and their work. Why don't you sit over with Miss Granger? She is really good at explaining. She will let you know the basics and everything you need to know. If you have further questions don't hesitate to ask me. And let's talk about the other tasks later", Mrs. Woodstock smiled warmly at Pansy and patted her on the shoulder. She seemed a lot nicer than she had been on Hermione's first day at work. Sharp as Hermione's thinking was she sensed that something had to be going on she was not aware of. But before she could think more about it, Pansy had come over to her desk. Still standing, she was looking down on the seated Hermione, an evil grin on her ugly face. She had not changed at all over those last few years, Hermione noticed. Her face still looked like a pug as Harry had described so well, her eyes small and dark and her hair was longish and looked somewhat neglected. Pansy drew her rather short wand and moved the chair from an empty desk to Hermione's. She sat down and said: "Hello, Granger, it's been a while huh?"

Hermione just nodded while she was fighting the urge to spit right into Pansy's ugly face. How on earth was that even possible? As if her life hadn't been miserable enough already. There was only one way she figured: Keeping a straight face and focus on work. Like a professional. This was the Ministry after all. They were not in Hogwarts anymore, so the time for bullying and evil tricks should be over.

Hermione straightened her shoulders, put on her best fake smile and replied in a high-pitched unnatural voice: "Pansy, how very nice to see you." She pulled a random file from the stack she had organized so neatly not caring about order any more. "Seeing as I am working here longer then you and possess some experience, it might be best if you just sit here and watch what I do. Ask questions if you want", Hermione said.

To her surprise, Pansy actually just remained on her seat and listened to every word Hermione said. But Hermione was not ready to let down her guard just yet, maybe she would never be able to in the presence of this person. She could not help but touching her front teeth with her tongue checking if they were alright. She felt tense and nervous sensing danger in Pansy's every movement and look.

"So, after filling out the basic fields of the report, we have this section called 'special advice'", Hermione explained to the other woman still speaking in an unnatural voice. "Here we add anything we think might be important for future incidents or occurrences involving magical creatures."

"Can you give an example?", Pansy asked. She did not talk in a very friendly manner nor did she ever use please when asking a question, but strangely she seemed really interested in what Hermione explained to her. Maybe she really just wanted to do her job properly like anyone else and was not interested in bullying anymore. Hermione could not be sure though. Not yet.

"I told you about the House Elves incident on the Quidditch pitch we had last week, right?", Hermione replied. "When I filed the report about this incident I recommended to consider house elves' nature and their tendency to punish themselves when investigating the incident since it would be the most likely cause for strange behavior."

"I see, okay", Pansy nodded.

At about one o'clock everyone in their office got up for lunch break. Hermione remained seated however. Pansy followed them towards the door, but turned around once more asking Hermione whether she wouldn't come with them.

"No, I'm fine, I usually eat by myself getting some more work done", Hermione said. Pansy shrugged and proceeded to the door.

As soon as everyone had gone outside, Hermione let out a cry of frustration and ruffled her hair. She drew her wand, cast a muffliato at the door, then she walked over to the armchair standing in a corner of their office. It was a really ugly green olive colored chair and Hermione detested it somehow. However, now she needed it. Well actually she needed the big cushion resting on top of it. She grabbed it and started to punch it like a sandbag. The action was strenuous, still, no sound was coming from her mouth. She was not that desperate yet. No, she could do it. Just be professional, she thought as she was putting the cushion back on the armchair a few punches later. She felt a little bit better. She had thought about using this method for stress relief a few times and today she had finally done it. She felt stupid and a little ashamed of herself since she detested violence. But it was only a cushion, right? That did not count as violence.

She walked back to her desk sat down and pointed her wand at her bag. "Accio lunchbox!"

She grabbed the lunchbox and opened it. Today she had packed a few cheese and ham sandwiches. Nothing really healthy, but she had put on a few slices of tomato so she could pretend she was living and eating healthy. Chewing on her sandwich, she read over some of the more important reports not even realizing she was eating. But if she ever wanted to get to work on her project she should finish these first. Eating in the cafeteria with everyone else was a waste of time for her. Usually everyone was rather quiet at lunch anyways or just sharing some gossip she was not interested in. No need to sacrifice time that she could use more efficiently instead.

She continued working eagerly and after a while her colleagues came back into the office, chatting and laughing as they resumed their places. Pansy sat down again on the chair next to Hermione, but got called into Mrs. Woodstock's office after a few minutes. She did not come out for what must have been an hour or so, but Hermione was so occupied with her work, she did not notice how much time was passing. At around five her colleagues began to leave the office. Sera walked up to Hermione's desk and put his hand on her shoulder. It felt stiff, but Hermione knew that this costed him some effort as he was always so stiff and formal. "Miss Granger, you worked really hard today, why don't you go home on time for once?" he said looking slightly concerned. "You look quite tired today as well. It would be advisable to rest and sleep early", he continued in his usual manner.

"Thank you, Sera, I will. I just have to finish this report and then I'll go home. I promise", she added as she noticed his disbelieving expression.

"I really wish you'd do so," Sera said and drew his hand from her shoulder. "Have a nice evening."

"You too, Sera", Hermione said absentmindedly because she was re-reading some amendments she had made to a report about an incident with a Ghoul in order to detect possible mistakes. Just one more report, she thought to herself.

As she looked up at the clock after a while it was already nine o'clock. And she had not even finished half of what she had wanted to do today. But she was so tired and noticed a lot of mistakes in her remarks and amendments she had made during the last thirty minutes. After working for twelve hours, her body and mind were exhausted. She tried to resist the feeling, wanted to concentrate just once more, but failed. I'll do better tomorrow, she thought. Then she finally got up and exited the office.

She was the only living being to walk through the corridors at this hour. Her steps were echoing from the marble walls making it the only noise around her. The sound made her suddenly feeling empty and lonely. What was wrong with her? She usually was happy just doing her work and getting things done. Was it because she did not finish her work today? She was too tired to think about it now.

As if controlled by an outside force her hand reached for her wand pointing it to her bag. "Accio galleon", she whispered. The Galleon rushed into her outstretched hand and she looked at it affectionately as it felt so familiar in her palm. She whispered a few words to the galleon and put in back into her bag. She could just have cast a patronus to use it as a messenger, but using that old galleon seemed just right to her at the moment. It felt almost like going back to Hogwarts. She smiled at that sentiment of nostalgia and then disapparated to her flat. Hopefully, Ginny would accept her invitation and come over for a while.

She really missed her.


	5. Life is like a box of chocolate frogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love how this chapter turned out, I hope you do too! And thanks for the Kudos so far!

Chapter 5 – Life is Like a Box of Chocolate Frogs

Hermione apparated behind a wall that enclosed a parking lot almost right next to her apartment. Apparating right in front of the entrance of the building was too dangerous as Muggles were frequently passing by the place. Living inside of London surely had its upsides but at least as many downsides. Sometimes, Hermione regretted moving out of her parent's house. She really loved spending time with her family, especially after she had to obliterate their parents' memories of her. After restoring their memories, she had grown even closer to her parents, even though it had taken them some time to get over it. In the end however, they had agreed that Hermione's action might have saved their lives.

Despite all of this, Hermione had not felt much at home anymore, although she had lived in the house for almost all her life. After all that had happened it didn't feel the same anymore. Home was supposed to be the place where you should be able to relax and let go of your worries, but whenever Hermione had been in the house she had felt suffocated and uneasy, not knowing why. She still did not know, but at least it had become a little better after moving to her own place. There were still many days when she was not able to relax properly and often times she performed some occluding and protection spells after entering her apartment. This was not supposed to be necessary anymore, since the world had become a great deal more peaceful, but she could not get rid of the habit. Fortunately, she was able to distract herself by reading books or designing new spells, so that she didn't feel much need for relaxing anyways.

Hermione walked the short distance to her building's entrance. The complex looked ugly and neglected as usual, though this was just a disillusionment charm. The building contained about twenty flats almost all of them inhabited by single wizards and witches working for the ministry. But there were a few exceptions, for example Mrs. Maurer, who lived right next to Hermione. She was at least ten times as old as Hermione – or at least she looked like that – with deep wrinkles all over her face. She had come to live there because her husband had died and she did not have any children to live with. Sometimes Hermione had tea with her on the weekend, because she felt a little sad for the old woman living all alone at such old age. Sometimes she wondered if she would end up like that as well. Having no one to share a home with, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner all by herself in some ugly building where one did not even know their neighbors? The chances were pretty high.

Hermione came to a halt in front of the entrance door and looked around for Ginny. It had been only about five minutes since she had send the message via galleon inviting the woman to come over to her place to have some tea, so no need to worry yet. It was quite late, but Ginny's training usually ended late as well and according to what Ginny had told her last time, she usually did not go out to meet friends on weeknights. So naturally Hermione had been sure that Ginny would follow the invitation without hesitation.

Hermione continued to wait for a few minutes, looking up and down the street. It was pretty dark that night. The street lamp in front of her building seemed to be broken, it flickered irregularly and made Hermione feel uneasy somehow. She could not even cast Lumos, since the chance of Muggles passing was too high.

Hermione shivered and buried her hands in her pockets. Still no Ginny in sight. Maybe she was already sleeping, exhausted from training? Maybe she did not really want to see Hermione after Hermione had rejected Ginny's suggestions to meet too often? Or maybe…maybe she was out on a date with some girl? It would only be natural, Ginny was really pretty and had a great personality. Many witches who like witches would be attracted to her wouldn't they? But how did two witches even date each other? How did they recognize each other? Suddenly, a thousand questions about lesbian witch dating run through Hermione's head. She just liked to have information on the topic she was dealing with, hence, since her best female friends liked women, Hermione should get some research done about the topic. Maybe a comparison between muggle lesbianism and wizard lesbianism would be nice? But why did the image of Ginny and some faceless witch on a date drinking butterbeer kept crossing Hermione's mind? And why exactly was it bothering her so much? She was clearly overworked, Hermione thought. That had to be it.

She waited for another couple of minutes, but Ginny did not appear. The street lamp had eventually turned off completely leaving Hermione in complete darkness. Hermione finally turned around and walked towards the entrance of her building with slightly hanging shoulders. Worst day ever. Well, maybe the battle of Hogwarts had been worst. So second worst day ever.

Hermione was about to point the tip of her wand at the entrance door to activate the unlocking spell, when she heard her name being called.

"Hermione!"

Hermione stopped in motion her wand hovering in the air. Ginny's voice. Since when had her voice sounded so soft and beautiful? Why did it feel like the sound of her own name from Ginny's mouth washed away all the misery she had felt today?

Slowly, Hermione turned around. Maybe she had only imagined the voice? But it was the real Ginny, who was standing only a few feet away from her.

"Ginny!", Hermione called out and smiled in relief. "I thought you wouldn't come!" She wanted to go over and hug the redhead, but somehow, she could not bring herself to do it. Strangely, she felt a little shy all of a sudden.

"Well, here I am', Ginny said playfully while grinning in a typical Weasley manner. "It took a few minutes, because I was in the middle of performing advanced broom stick care. Gotta do that once a while or the broom will start to look old."

"Oh I am sorry, I didn't know", Hermione replied feeling bad for sending the sudden invitation. "But you finished the broom care?"

"No, the advanced care takes about five hours", Ginny replied still grinning. "I had done about four hours when this one here", she held up the DA galleon, "suddenly became hot. It was really nice to see an invitation coming from you, Hermione." The grin changed into a soft smile as she said this.

"Oh Ginny, I am so sorry for interrupting you!", Hermione said feeling a little uncomfortable. "Good you already did four hours, so tomorrow you can just finish it, right?"

Ginny snickered and the grin reappeared on her face. "Oh Hermione, you really don't know anything about Quidditch, do you? The advanced broom care has to be performed in one go for it to be effective. I will just give it another try tomorrow." She laughed as she saw the expression on Hermione's face. "Oh, don't worry Hermione, it's okay, really."

"But-but because of my sudden invitation you wasted so much time!", Hermione exclaimed. "Oh I am so sorry, next time I will just send an owl and let you know a day in advance, so you can arrange your schedule and-"

"Hermione!", Ginny interrupted her. "I don't care about schedules and planning and stuff like that. I do what I want to do and today I want to spend time with you. Spending time with you is more important to me than taking care of my broom. Even though I love the procedure", she added. She closed the distance between them and hugged Hermione lightly. "I was really happy about your invitation", she whispered against Hermione's wavy hair. "Thank you so much."

Hermione felt a sudden shudder mixed with excitement rolling over her body. It felt so nice to hear the other girl's voice so close. Her eyes went shut for a moment.

Ginny ended the hug leaving Hermione feeling a little…empty? She did not really have any words to describe the feeling because she hec never really felt it before. Today was such a weird day. She tried to compose herself and pointed her wand at the entrance door. A clicking sound indicated that it had unlocked. Hermione pushed the door and held it open so Ginny could enter first.

"Sorry, but this place looks awful", Ginny said as they walked up the stairs to the third floor where Hermione lived.

"Don't worry, it looks quite nice from the inside", Hermione assured her.

They arrived at Hermione's flat and Hermione opened the door in the same way as she had opened the building's front door.

"Welcome to my…place", Hermione said and gestured Ginny to go inside. She had wanted to say 'home', but somehow, she could not bring herself to say the word. Had she ever referred to her place as 'home'? She could not remember.

Following Ginny, she entered the flat and took off her shoes before proceeding further inside. The flat consisted of two rooms. A small living room which also had a kitchen and a small table in it where she usually had breakfast. Instead of a sofa the living room only contained a wide desk and a few bookshelves holding all her favorite books. The door to her bedroom stood slightly ajar, hiding the bed and cupboard for her clothes from view. It was really small as well. Fortunately, her place was tidy since she had cleaned only a few days ago.

"So, what do you think? Better than it looks from the outside, right?", Hermione said hoping Ginny would feel comfortable.

She headed over to the kitchen section to set up water for tea. "You don't like it?", Hermione asked as she did not hear any reply from Ginny.

"Umh, I am not sure", Ginny finally said, though reluctantly as if she didn't want to hurt Hermione's feelings. "I mean it looks neat and all, but it does not look like someone actually lives here. But if you like it that way, it's okay of course", she added hastily.

"What do you mean?", Hermione said taken aback. "It looks perfectly normal to me."

"Well, first of all, look at how tidy everything is. I mean", Ginny said searching for the right words, "I mean of course tidiness is great and everything, but here, literally nothing is lying around. For example, look at your table, there are no flowers or decorations on it at all, and your desk as well. And no pictures anywhere but the one with you, Harry and Ron on it. And having just a desk in your living room isn't that a little…incomplete? I mean, do you never get all comfy cuddling up in an armchair or on the sofa? Or is it because I was overexposed to such things at the burrow?" She looked at Hermione a little insecure, but Hermione could also detect a hint of sadness in Ginny's eyes.

"Uhm…", Hermione started to speak, but no words came out of her mouth as she took another look around. As if Ginny's words had broken some kind of disillusionment charm, she suddenly could see what Ginny meant. Before, she had just thought that since she was not spending much time at her place anyways, she didn't need unnecessary stuff like pictures and flowers, which would just die hat her hands anyways. At least without magic. But looking around now, seeing the naked, boring-looking walls, the empty desk, the window pane with nothing but a little bit of dust on it, everything seemed suddenly cold and distant to her. Not like a home was supposed to be.

"I…", Hermione uttered and the still empty teapot started shaking in her hand "I-I…", her bottom lip started to tremble a little and suddenly she felt a lump in her throat. No, she mustn't cry. Not yet and not in front of Ginny. She had to compose herself. Handling things professionally as usually. Her place was just fine the way it was. At least better than stuffing it with unnecessary kitsch in every corner. It would only draw anyways.

Hermione took a deep breath, strengthened her grip on the tea pot and started to fill in water.

"I like it, so it's okay for me. I am sorry, you don't like it", she said to Ginny while looking at the water filling the pot instead of meeting Ginny's eyes.

"Well…if you are happy with that," Ginny shrugged and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the small kitchen table.

Neither of them spoke for a while as Hermione prepared everything for the tea.

"You want some biscuits?", Hermione finally asked.

"Do you have chocolate frogs?", Ginny replied and a smile reappeared on her face.

Hermione smiled as well and the awkwardness that had built up between them faded at once. "Yes, I bought some yesterday, since I am planning on having people over more often from now on", she replied and opened one of the drawers. Hermione put the box of chocolate frogs in front of the redhead and set down across from her.

"Would you mind if I ate a lot?", Ginny asked shyly. "They have a special edition of famous Quidditch player cards this month and I haven't collected that many yet", she explained.

Hermione grinned. Ginny really was a Quidditch-nerd. "Sure, eat them all. I'll give you all my cards as well."

Ginny reached for the box and unwrapped one of the frogs.

"Oh, it's just Harry", she said in a disappointed voice.

"Just Harry?", Hermione laughed. "You used to be all over him and now you are disappointed from just seeing his face on a chocolate card? You've come a long way, my dear Ginevra", Hermione teased her.

Ginny blushed and put the chocolate in her mouth. Ginny's lips looked really nice, way better than Ron's, Hermione thought as she saw the frog disappearing into Ginny's mouth.

"Harry is just my friend and actually, we've always been friends. Except the kissing and stuff", Ginny said while chewing. "But emotionally, we were friends and just friends. Took me a while to realize though." She reached for another frog, starting to unwrap it.

"I am sure you can find someone…some witch, who you can love in the romantic way", Hermione said. "I guess every lesbian witch would give everything to date you."

Ginny stopped unwrapping the frog and looked up at Hermione. Hermione could not quite figure out the expression in her eyes. Was it expectation? Hope? She couldn't really point her finger on it.

"Why do you think that?", Ginny asked still looking directly into Hermione's eyes.

"Well isn't that obvious? You're extremely pretty, you're on your way to become a legendary Quidditch player, you have a great body and you're really clever as well. And funny. And…one really cannot help but to like you!", Hermione blurted out. "At least as I see it as your friend", she added quickly.

Ginny chuckled and resumed unwrapping the frog. "Oh, it's Dumbledore. I got his card like at least a hundred times", she said and tossed the card back into the box, only keeping the chocolate.

The high whistle of the tea pot let them know that the water was boiling. Hermione got up from her chair and poured the hot water over their cups, each containing a peppermint teabag.

She placed the steaming cups on the table and sat back down.

"By the way, why the sudden invitation?", Ginny asked.

Hermione sighed. She had already forgotten about Pansy. "I wanted to talk to someone and you were the first person who came to my mind and also…I missed you."

"Thank you, Hermione, I missed you too", Ginny said and smiled at her. She made an awkward gesture with her hand as if she was about to place it on Hermione's. But she stopped the motion halfway making a turn for the chocolate frogs instead.

"So, what did you want to talk about?", she asked.

Hermione started telling her about her encounter with Pansy and how she could not get her intentions. She also included quite a rant about how bad Pansy's personality was and how she could not understand that someone like her had gotten a job at the ministry. Ginny listened and just nodded though she sometimes frowned at some things Hermione was saying.

"So, what do you think? What should I do?", Hermione asked after she had finished her monologue, looking expectantly at the other woman.

Ginny took a few moments to think about everything Hermione had said while sipping some of her tea.

"I dislike Pansy almost as much as you do", Ginny said, "But maybe she does not have any hidden intentions? Maybe she really just wants to live a proper life now, work like everyone else and maybe she even regrets what she did. This might be hard for you, but why don't you just try to get along with her? You don't have to become friends, just work with her as you do with everyone else. I don't think there is any reason to be concerned yet."

"You are probably right", Hermione replied. "But I have a weird feeling about the whole thing. Mrs. Woodstock, my boss, treats Pansy way nicer than she treated me at the beginning and she even told me she usually does this to newbies. So, I just cannot understand why Pansy would be any different. It just seems a little off to me, that's all."

"Maybe your boss is just friends with the Parkinson family or related to them", Ginny said having some more tea. Hermione had not touched hers yet although there was no steam rising from it anymore.

"Might be", Hermione sighed. Maybe she was really being too invested the issue. Hurtful past experiences could disturb one's view of the present significantly.

"Okay, let's leave the topic for today", Hermione said, finally having a sip of her tea which was barely even lukewarm now.

"But apart from Pansy, is it worth it?", Ginny asked. "I mean working for the ministry? Whenever I think about it the only thing coming to my mind is Percy sitting in some ugly office doing boring work." Ginny grinned at Hermione somewhat apologetically.

Hermione snickered at that. Ginny's imagination was quite close to reality actually. She had been to Percy's office a few times when their department had to coordinate something with the Minister, and usually Percy had been filling out some standardized forms, which had looked indeed like a rather boring thing to do.

"Well, I don't know to be honest", Hermione said, the laugh vanishing from her face as she thought about her own work. "I started the job because I did not know what else to do. It was just the convenient thing to do at the time. At first, I really loved it because I learned so many new things, but now it kind of stagnated. Every day is pretty much the same, though we have some interesting cases with magical creatures from time to time. But all the report filing work related to that is rather boring and time consuming and the recommendations I make for future procedures often go unnoticed by my superiors."

"Why is that?", Ginny asked while playing around with another chocolate frog.

"I think it's because of my low position in the ministry", Hermione replied. "I am still a newbie, so I should make more efforts to climb the ladder and get promoted. Usually, higher ranking officials have a lot more influence. It's pretty hierarchic there unfortunately."

"But you are Hermione Granger!", Ginny exclaimed a little agitated. "You're famous and brilliant and everyone knows that!" She really seemed upset, Hermione noticed. But why did Ginny look so cute when she was being upset? She had never noticed, but the way Ginny pouted was really lovely somehow.

Hermione smiled at Ginny to assure her that she was fine with that. "If I work hard enough, it will change", Hermione said. "I just have to finish my individual project, then I might get promoted, because it will be an important addition to the house elves legislation. If only I had enough time to work on it", Hermione sighed rubbing her forehead. They fell silent for another couple of moments.

"I'm really glad, you came over tonight, Ginny", Hermione finally said and smiled at the redhead.

"Me too", Ginny said resting her chin on her hand smiling at Hermione. Hermione looked right into Ginny's eyes, strangely unable to avert her gaze yet even blink. For the first time she noticed the slightly lighter-colored freckles sprinkled throughout the girl's irises and she started to loose herself in those eyes, started to let go of all the thoughts she had about work and Pansy and getting promoted and doing her project and filing reports and struggling with her boss and being professional…and suddenly she saw images appearing in Ginny's eyes. Herself sitting on her desk having lunch all alone…herself walking around the pitch-black hallways in the ministry after everyone had already left…herself punching the cushion, her face distorted…herself falling asleep in her dark room, piles of parchment she had taken home from work still next to her…images of herself smiling at the picture of her, Ron and Harry thinking about their times in Hogwarts...and then Ginny again. Right in front of her. But her features started to blur as tears formed in Hermione's eyes. She finally blinked and a single tear run down her cheek to her chin clinging to it as fearing for its life. She felt a soft touch on her hand which brought her back into reality. Ginny had laid her hand on Hermione's and rubbed it lightly with her thumb.

"Hermione", Ginny said quietly. Her expression was surprised and worried. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry", Hermione said in embarrassment and wiped the tear off her chin. "It's just…" She tried to coordinate her thoughts which turned out to be an impossible task at that moment. She thought for a few more seconds before making another attempt to explain, but Ginny spoke up first.

"Hermione," she said and gave the other woman's hand a little squeeze. "You are not happy with your live right now, are you?"

Hermione said nothing at first since it took her a while to take in those words. Happy? What did that even mean? There were no rules for happiness and everyone had their own definition of what happiness should be like, she thought. Was she unhappy? What did happiness mean for her? Had she ever earnestly thought about that? But did being not unhappy meant that you were happy? Too complicated.

Hermione closed her eyes for a second concentrating only on the feeling of Ginny's hand on her own. It felt like small waves of warmness were send from Ginny's hand to her own body. Would holding someone's hand make her happy? Would love become the foundation of her own happiness? Or was it something else?

Hermione opened her eyes again trying to smile at Ginny, but a slight twitch of her lips was all she could manage to do.

"I don't know, Ginny", she said honestly. "I really do not know. I might be unhappy…but…even if I was, I wouldn't know how to change that. I have gotten used to the life I have now and it's not that bad actually, just a little lonely maybe." She finally succeeded at smiling though it was probably not very convincing.

"I think you should change some things about your life", Ginny said softly. "Work less, do what you love, instead of sitting in that boring office all day. Even if you keep working in the ministry, just do your thing and don't worry about promotion. Your mind is too brilliant for that. You should do bigger things. Things that fulfill you. And maybe…you even find love at some point."

"But-But I don't know what I want to do!", Hermione exclaimed, her voice higher than usual. "I don't have a dream like everyone else has. Your dream was Quidditch and know you're a professional Quidditch player, Harry wanted to be an Auror and now he is becoming one, Neville studies magical plants and Luna magical creatures and…I-I don't have such a dream! How can I know what to do when I don't have a dream to pursue? And how can I find love if I don't even know myself?! Living like this and relying on myself is all I can do at the moment, I guess…" Hermione sighed and stared at her reflection in the tea cup. "I just wish I knew what to do. Or that someone could tell me what to do at least."

Ginny withdrew her hand from Hermione's leaving Hermione with an empty feeling. She wished Ginny would put it back. But the other girl reached out for a chocolate frog and put it into Hermione's hand.

"Chocolate helps the after effects of encounters with dementors, so it should also help against negative thoughts, right?", she smiled at Hermione and she started to feel a little better.

"Thanks, Ginny", Hermione took the frog and though she did not feel like eating anything, she slowly began to unwrap it.

"And about what you said", Ginny continued. "I think I know a solution." She grinned mischievously at Hermione as if a funny thought had just crossed her mind.

"What do you mean?", Hermione asked in confusion.

"You said you want someone to tell you what to do in life, right? So why not get some professional help? Luckily for you, I happen to know just the right place for that."

Hermione looked at Ginny inquiringly. Ginny's grin became even wider.

"Let's go ask Professor Trelawney."

"P-Professor Tre-Trelawney?!", Hermione coughed because she had almost choked at the chocolate frog upon hearing the teacher's name. "You must be kidding me!"

"No, I'm not", Ginny said, clearly amused by Hermione's reaction. "I know you don't like her and think she's a fraud, which I used to think too, but-", she raised her hand as Hermione attempted to protest. "But from what I heard, she has become really good at predictions lately. Apparently, she can only predict well at night, so we could never experience her true skills in class. And she even opened a shop in Diagon Alley where you can get personal predictions. It only opens during nighttime and some people from my team have visited to ask about their love lives and stuff. They told me they had been really satisfied with the service and most her predictions have come true."

"But isn't that like Muggle horoscopes? Keeping it as broad as possible so that everyone can find something applying to themselves?" Hermione was still not convinced.

"Why not go and try it out?", Ginny suggested. "Trying won't hurt and maybe it's not as bad as you think."

Well, Hermione thought, she did not have many other options at the moment and maybe visiting her old teacher would really help her somehow. Believing in predictions, fortunetelling and other esoteric stuff was not really something she would do, but maybe it would lead her to new ideas about her future somehow. Ginny was right, trying would not hurt her, so why not?

"Okay", Hermione finally agreed. "I cannot believe I am saying this, but, why not?" She laughed as she saw the triumphant expression on Ginny's face. She felt a lot better already thanks to the presence of her dear friend.

"So, should we get going?", Ginny asked.

"Wait, what, you mean now?!", Hermione said in surprise.

"Of course, now! Better sooner than later", Ginny replied and grinned at Hermione. "The shop should be open now."

The redhead got up from her chair in determination raising one hand and pointed at the door as if she was leading the way for a group of tourists. Hermione got up hesitantly and they got ready to disapparate.

"Wait!", Ginny suddenly exclaimed. "You didn't look at it, did you?!" She run over to the table where they had just sat. Hermione had no clue what she was doing.

Ginny suddenly gave an excited squeal and hurried back to Hermione. "Why didn't you tell me you got Glynnis Griffiths?!", Ginny said a little accusingly. Hermione spotted the chocolate frog card Ginny had clutched in her hand tightly as if protecting a treasure.

"Oh I', sorry, I forgot to look at it earlier", Hermione said apologetically. "But is she someone famous?"

"Oh Hermione", Ginny rolled her eyes at the girl. "Let's just go."

The two woman disapparated to Diagon Alley, neither of them knowing what would await them.


	6. Good Prospects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite short, but very important for the story! Next chapter will be up soon.

Chapter 6 – Good Prospects

Diagon Alley was dark and only a few peoples hurried along the street when Hermione and Ginny apparated close to the Leaky Cauldron. A few enchanted oil lamps illuminated the area, but the shadows they cast looked creepy and obscure. Hermione already regretted coming. Ginny however seemed perfectly fine and grinned in her usual Weasley manner. "Don't worry", she said and put one hand on Hermione's shoulder. "It looks a little scary, right? But it's as safe as during daytime and we're not in Knockturn Alley after all."

Hermione relaxed a little and it was more thanks Ginny's touch than to her words. "Okay alright, so where do we have to go from here?", Hermione asked while straightening her posture.

"This way", Ginny answered and led Hermione past Quality Quidditch Supplies, Flourish & Blott's and Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. They crossed the street and headed for a small one-story building right at the intersection leading to Knockturn Alley. The shop did not have any windows and the door was made of dark wood, so nobody could see what was going on inside. A sign showing the word 'OPEN' was dangling from the door. It seemed to sway slightly even though no wind was blowing.

"You're sure this is the right place?", Hermione asked doubtfully.

"Of course I'm sure", Ginny said, but the grin on her face had diminished a little.

The redhead raised her fist and knocked on the door lightly.

"Come in", a voice from inside called. It unmistakably belonged to Professor Trelawney. Ginny opened the door and the two women entered the shop.

It felt like stepping into another world, strange but familiar at the same time. Familiar, because the room had lots of similarities with their old divination classroom. Strange, because it was not like anything Hermione usually saw in her everyday life. Long purple-colored curtains hung from the ceiling to the floor on every wall. Cushions and armchairs were everywhere. In between dreamcatchers, pictures of Chinese characters and astrology charts. A thick purple carpet covered the floor and it rendered their steps inaudible. A set of incense sticks gave off a smell of orange zest and lavender. A weird combination but not unpleasant, Hermione thought. In the middle of the room stood a small round table with a voluminous crystal ball on it. White and grey swirls were moving inside of it. Behind the sphere, on a wide green armchair, similar to the one in Hermione's office, sat Professor Sybille Trelawney, who was staring at them in expectation.

She gestured Hermione and Ginny to sit down on the two chairs opposite to her. "I knew you two would come, so I prepared two chairs", the Professor said in her usual esoteric voice.

Hermione wrinkled her nose, but decided not to say anything yet. The girls sat down on the chairs, only the table holding the crystal ball separating them from Professor Trelawney.

"Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley", Trelawney said and looked at them intently. She still wore the same glasses, which made her look like a giant insect. At every motion, dozens of chains and beads around her arms and neck gave off little jingling noises. "It has been some time", their old teacher continued. "I hope you have been well."

"Aren't you supposed to know that already?", Hermione said, raising one eyebrow.

"You're still full of doubt and distrust I see, Miss Granger. Predicting the future – divination – is not something that works on my command alone. Someone has to ask for advice, so that the full power of divination can come upon me. Seeing you have found me here, you clearly are in a situation where you need advice, am I right? Advice that cannot be found in books, but that only the heavens can let you know." Professor Trelawney's eyes wandered towards the ceiling as she said that.

"Exactly", Ginny said before Hermione could say anything that would offend the teacher. Hermione leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you not teaching in Hogwarts anymore?", she asked. Professor McGonagall could have kicked her out, she thought. It might be possible since Professor McGonagall too, was not exactly fond of divination. Still, some of the fortune teller's predictions had been true.

"I am still teaching at Hogwarts", Professor Trelawney replied. "But only as a side job. This is my main occupation now, because those who come to ask me for advice know how to appreciate my abilities." Professor Trelawney shifted in her chair and leaned forwards to muster the young woman intensely.

"So?", she said stressing the 'o' more than necessary. "What do you want to know?"

"We want to ask something about Hermione's future", Ginny explained. "We-"

But Professor Trelawney silenced her with a hand gesture and turned her head towards Hermione. The scent coming from the incense sticks made Hermione feel a little dizzy, and it seemed like not only one but two pairs of eyes were staring at her from behind the glasses.

"The request", Professor Trelawney said, "has to be made by the client herself. Tell me what you desire to know, Miss Hermione Jean Granger".

Hermione gulped nervously. How the hell did the teacher know her middle name?

"Uhm…well, I think my life right now might not be the happiest one, but I am also not quite sure how I can change it", Hermione explained reluctantly. "I feel like there is something I should be doing, but I am not sure what this 'something' is. So, my question for you is…" Hermione clenched her fists into the fabric of her cloak and looked up at the teacher, "What should I do?"

Hermione and Professor Trelawny stared at each other for a few seconds, neither of them blinking even once. The fortuneteller's face did not show any expression at first, but then, ever so slowly, a crease began to appear on her forehead.

"You picked a question whose answer is not easy to predict", Professor Trelawney finally said as she leaned back in her armchair. "Indeed, it is one of the most difficult questions one can ask."

"So, you're saying you cannot help me?", Hermione eyed the Professor suspiciously. Of course, predictions and fortunetelling were nothing but fraud. She should have known better than to come here.

But Professor Trelawney only continued staring at her blankly. "I said it is difficult, but I never said it is impossible. Let me see what I can do for you."

After she said those words, the teacher set up straight and closed her eyes. When she did not open them after what seemed to be almost a minute, Hermione and Ginny exchanged a questioning look. Hermione wondered if she should do or say something, but finally the professor opened her eyes again and laid both her hands on the crystal ball. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, the color of the shadows swirling inside changed to orange and red and shades of light brown. They were moving faster and faster. Professor Trelawney had closed her eyes again. Her hands were shaking and her features were distorted as if she was fighting against a power coming from inside her. Or maybe from inside the crystal ball?

The young women were surprised and a little scared, but they could not avert their eyes from the strange sight. Professor Trelawney's whole body was shaking now and noises that sounded like she was tortured by the Cruciatus curse, only way more muffled, came from her mouth.

And then she collapsed over the crystal ball, not moving anymore. Just when Hermione was about to jump up and check on the teacher, Trelawney suddenly straightened her posture and looked directly at Hermione. She opened her mouth and said: "You will find the way". Her voice was deep and vibrated in the air. It felt as if it was not only coming from her mouth but also from inside of Hermione. It rose to the air like mist, almost visible. Hermione thought like she could touch it. She had never heard a voice like that before.

"But!", the voice became louder. "A lonely soul will not find the way by itself. Someone is needed to guide the soul and the soul itself has to find that person, recognize it by the sign. Find the person and you find the way. Miss the person and you lose the way forever."

At soon as she spoke the last word, Professor Trelawney fell back into the armchair, looking extremely exhausted. "I hope, my prediction was satisfactory enough for you, Miss Granger?", she asked with her voice back to usual.

But Hermione did not answer. Her eyes were wide open, because she could not believe what she had just witnessed. Had she seen a real prediction? Was this what it was supposed to look like? It did not seem like a fraud at all, it had been too convincing.

She noticed Ginny shifting a little in her chair, which brought her back into reality. "Uhm, I-I think so, yes," she stuttered. "But what did you mean by 'recognize the person by the sign'? What is the 'sign'?"

"The prediction's interpretation has to be made by the client herself. Unfortunately, I cannot assist you with that", Professor Trelawny said. "Any more wishes? How about you?", she eyed Ginny expectantly.

Ginny seemed a little taken aback, apparently still stunned by what she had just seen. "Uhm, I-I uhm…let me think", she stumbled. "Okay, could you predict my chances to become Quidditch player of the year?" She blushed a little and Hermione would have laughed at the question, but she was too occupied with thinking about the prediction she had just heard.

"Of course, this should't be too difficult", Professor Trelawney said and put her hands on the crystal ball once more. This time she did not shake and seemed just fine. Her voice, too, was not any different from usual as she said: "You can become what you desire, my girl, but be aware of the enemy. Learn to cope with them if you want to reach your goal."

Ginny nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Professor Trelawney. We should go and think about what you told us."

All three of them got up and walked towards the door. Hermione still felt a little dizzy from all the fume in the room. Hermione and Ginny paid one Galleon, ten Sickles and one Knut each, said goodbye and left the shop.

Stepping out into the cold December night brought Hermione back to her senses. She looked at Ginny, who was standing right next to her. Even in the dark she looked pretty. "Do you really think we can believe all that?", Hermione asked doubtfully.

Ginny did not answer right away. She just looked at Hermione and with every breath white mist escaped from her mouth and nose.

"I think you can believe her words", she finally said. "It seemed really convincing, didn't it? And she spoke in a similar voice to Harry once…I'm not so sure about the prediction I got, though. It wasn't spectacular at all, was it?" She shrugged and began walking into Diagon Alley. They seemed to be the only ones around now, which, under normal circumstances, would have scared Hermione a little, but having Ginny by her side, she felt safe and secure. Why had that never worked with Harry or Ron? She wondered why it never had worked when she was with Harry or even Ron.

"Yeah, she seemed so uhm…normal when she did yours, right? But maybe it's because the question was easier? I really don't know. All this prediction and seeing the future stuff…" Hermione sighed. Would it really help her? She did not even understand what the prediction was supposed to mean. If she decided to believe it, she could do some research of course, but would it be worth it?

"Let's go home for today", Ginny said. "Get some sleep and think about it tomorrow, okay?"

Hermione nodded. Ginny was right. She had to work tomorrow and Ginny probably had Quidditch training. She felt something cringe inside of her as she thought about work and Pansy.

The two women walked a few more dozens of feet in silence. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye, although it was already midnight.

"Well", Ginny said hesitantly as she slowed her steps. "Let's meet sometime soon." She smiled at Hermione, the simple action making the latter forget about her worries for a second. How strange.

"Ginny, thank you so much for today…for everything." Hermione looked right back into the redheads eyes, trying to convey her gratitude. "Let's meet again soon. Maybe you can help me with interpreting the prediction and I'll help you with yours. I'll send you an owl". She reached for Ginny's hand and squeezed it lightly. Ginny seemed a little surprised at the touch, but then a smile spread over her face.

"Okay, let's do that. Keep me updated about everything."

Hermione nodded and let go of the other woman's hand.

"See you soon", Ginny said and disapparated.

"See you soon", Hermione replied, but Ginny was already gone. She stood alone in the dark for a couple of moments.

"I already miss you", she whispered before she disapparated as well.


	7. Crystal Clear

Chapter 7 – Crystal Clear

Hermione was having lunch alone as usual, while she skimmed over some wizarding law books she had gotten from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She tried to find better arguments for some recommendations she planned to write into a report about an incident which had occurred a few days ago. It had been a really nasty one. Some wizard had set free a bunch of Blast-ended Skrewts in the middle of Trafalgar Square and made their ends go off among a crowd of panicking muggles. First, the Ministry had assumed that the culprit was a Muggle hater, which led to the fear of another anti-Muggle movement among many Muggle-borns. But soon they had found out that he was just mentally ill, so they had sent him to St. Mungo's, where he was receiving treatment now.

Nonetheless, the incident had prevented Hermione from working on her project again and a quick glance at the overtime-work-meter showed her that she had overtaken Mrs. Woodstock, making her first place. She was not sure if this was something to be proud or to cry about. Maybe both. Maybe neither.

Just as Hermione was about to toss the book away and reach for another one, she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. Hermione flinched, almost dropping her sandwich.

"Sorry, Granger, I did not mean to scare you."

Yeah sure. Hermione mentally rolled her eyes at Pansy. One week had passed since Pansy had started working at their office. There had been no major provocation from Pansy, but Hermione felt that something was off. She just could not put her finger on what exactly it was. She had tried to look at the situation from Ginny's perspective. The redhead had told her that Pansy was probably not having any ulterior motive. Yet, Hermione was not convinced. Oftentimes, Mrs. Woodstock and Pansy were together in the Chief's office for longer than necessary and Pansy seemed to receive special treatment as well. Even though she always arrived at nine and went home as soon as the clock showed five, there was a considerable amount of pearls in her overtime-work-meter. By far not as many as in Hermione's, but still. Clearly, something was going on.

Hermione turned around to face Pansy, trying to put on the most annoyed expression possible, but fake-smiling at the same time. In Hermione's imagination it looked pretty cool, which it probably wasn't. "Yes? What is it?"

Pansy smiled at Hermione derogatorily as usual and answered: "Well, I had some leftover sandwiches and brought them to work today, because I'd hate to see them go to waste."

"So?", Hermione asked in annoyance.

"I thought we could have lunch together?", Pansy suggested, and before Hermione could come up with an excuse to reject the suggestion, Pansy sat down on the free chair next to Hermione.

Hermione's insides fumed with anger, but she kept a straight face. Being professional was something she should practice as much as possible, so why not now.

"Sure, how nice", Hermione said to Pansy, though she actually screamed some not-so-nice words at her in her mind.

Eating their sandwiches, Pansy asked Hermione about the incident and the books she was reading. Hermione relaxed a little because she liked explaining things even to people she did not like and was able to finish her sandwich without throwing it at Pansy.

"If you know so much about this legal stuff, why don't you work at the Law Department?", Pansy asked and took a bite from her own sandwich which looked way more delicious than Hermione's.

"Because usually they only take in more experienced people", Hermione replied. "Even brilliant witches and wizards supposedly need at least five years of experience on the job. But maybe I apply for a position in there in a few years. Or I just stay here." Saying this made Hermione realize that she had no plan for her future whatsoever. Apart from improving wizarding society. But how to get there? She had no idea.

Hermione could not get rid of the thought for the rest of the day, which distracted her from work and made her mood even worse. Pansy had again disappeared into Mrs. Woodstock's office, probably having a chat and drinking tea.

Hermione's head was full of thoughts. Was she doing the right thing? Would working here really enable her to make a change? And was this really her dream? The more she thought the more she felt desperation swelling inside of her. Well, maybe there was a way, but- no, no, no, stop it!, she thought. She had successfully managed to forget about Professor Trelawney's prediction for a whole week, so why was the thought knocking on her mind's front door now?

Desperately, Hermione buried her face in her hands and closed her eyes. Breathing deeply a few times, she tried to calm herself. You will find the way… it was only a faint whisper inside her head, but she could hear it clearly and the words started to fill her head. The door to her mind had opened just a fraction of an inch. But it was enough. A lonely soul…will not find the way…by itself…you will find the way…The faint whisper was everywhere. It was in her head. It was in her body. It was in her heart. In her mind. And in her soul.

Then, the door to her mind burst open, unable to resist the force of words anymore. They flooded through her and over her…someone is needed…guide the soul…find that person…you can find the way…not by itself…recognize…by the sign!…The whispers had become screams, shouting at Hermione from every direction. She put her hands over her ears, but to no avail. Find the person…find the way…miss the person…loose the way…forever…recognize the person…the sign…the sign!…It was as if hundreds of people were screaming at Hermione in unnatural high and low pitched voices. She could not take it anymore. She had to make it stop or she would go crazy.

"I believe it", Hermione whispered her eyes shut tightly her hands still over her ears. "I believe your words."

And suddenly the voices stopped and total silence fell over her. After a few seconds she heard the scratching of quills and the faint noise of talking from the Chief's office. Hermione hesitantly raised her head and looked around. Nobody was paying attention to her, so they had apparently not noticed her almost-breakdown. She looked at Sera. He was studying what seemed to be 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. Noticing her staring, he looked up, gave Hermione an encouraging smile and concentrated on the book again.

Hermione felt empty. Looking around she realized that she did not feel attached to anything or anyone here. She liked Sera, but she knew nothing about him. The same was true for her other colleagues. And Pansy…she did not want to know anything about her. Her work felt meaningless. It did not make a difference. At least not to her. The only thing she felt passionate about was her house elves project, but she never got the time and resources to work on it properly. Working hard and diligently had not helped her in any way so far.

Then the clock hit five. Hermione got her bag and cloak and got up. For the first time since she had started working at the Ministry – apart from the day she had almost died – she left the office before everyone else.

"So, what do you think?", Hermione asked and looked at them expectantly.

"Ehrm…you know I'm not good at these things", Ron said a little taken aback. "Harry, you try it, you have experience with prophecies and stuff, don't you?"

"You took Divination for three years!", Harry said jokingly.

The three of them were sitting at a table in the corner of the Leaky Cauldron attempting to analyze Hemione's prediction. She called it prediction, because the word 'prophecy' seemed too heavy and scary.

While having their drinks – Harry and Ron had beer while Hermione had ordered a glass of lemonade – Hermione had told her two best friends everything that had happened during the last weeks and how her live had been completely shaken up.

Fortunately, both had agreed to meet after Hermione had send them a message via Patronus right after setting foot outside the Ministry. Ron worked at Diagon Alley anyways, so it was easy for him to come. And Harry had just returned from an Auror-workshop in Germany. It really had been a while since they had met and Hermione had felt better the instance she saw them.

"Okay, let's sum up the things we know", Ron said. "So apparently you will find your way in life. But you cannot do it alone, so someone has to help you. The problem is that you have to recognize that someone yourself by the sign. But what is the bloody sign?"

"I have no idea, Ron, that's why I asked you two", Hermione smiled at him patiently.

"Trelawney didn't give you any hint?", Harry asked. Hermione shook her head.

"It is mental she's believing the old hag anyways", Ron said and emptied almost half of his beer at once. "You used to call her a fraud, remember?"

Hermione watched him in amusement. "There is no need to remind me, Ron. But it is the only option I have now and some of her predictions have turned out to be true after all."

"Maybe we should discuss about the sign later and think about persons who could be the one from in the prediction?", Harry suggested.

"But we have to know the sign first before we can find the person!", Ron said and turned to Hermione again. "Let's think about possible signs. Maybe a rune? Or something the person wears? Or maybe something that suddenly happens when you look at them? Like something falling from the sky? Bloody hell, so many possibilities." Hermione could see he was slowly getting frustrated.

"You know what?", Hermione said, "Let's just leave it at this for today. I'll try to get some research done soon, maybe I can find out something that helps us." The young men nodded and looked relieved. Even though they were not much of a help in encoding the prediction, being with them made Hermione feel happy and loved. Almost as if she was with Ginny. But only almost.

"How about we talk about your special persons?", Hermione said with a teasing grin. She looked at Ron, then at Harry, who both looked bashful suddenly. Hermione thought of Neville and his crush on Harry. She tried to imagine them as a couple which worked quite well. Yet, it would never happen.

"Nothing going on at the moment", Harry replied. He seemed not especially bothered by the fact. "How about you mate?", Harry asked his best friend.

Ron blushed a little. "Uhm, well Hannah Abbott introduced me to her sister, but we only met a couple of times. Nothing serious yet", he said and finished the remaining half of his beer in one gulp. "One more beer please!", he called out to the bar tender.

"So, do you fancy her?", Harry asked curiously. "Is she pretty?" Hermione rolled her eyes at that. As if being pretty was everything.

"Yeah, she's really nice", Ron said and blushed a little more. "Quite pretty as well. Though not as pretty as Hermione. Just saying", he added as Hermione gave him an disapproving look. "You know I'm over you. That's why I plan to ask Sophie, that's her name by the way, to be my girlfriend. Probably I'll do it right before Christmas."

"Wow, that's amazing", Hermione said happily. She was glad, Ron had found someone who could make him happier than she would have.

"Congrats", Harry said nodding in approval.

"You're not interested in dating, Harry?", Hermione asked. "You know, Luna is still single and I reckon you and her would match quite well."

"Loony Lovegood?", Ron blurted out. "With Harry?" He laughed and started drinking his second beer.

"Don't be an idiot, Ron", Hermione scoffed. "You know she's really nice and lovable".

"I don't know, Hermione", Harry replied thoughtfully. "Right now, is not a good time for dating I think. I am abroad often and the work is dangerous as well."

"Just think about it", Hermione said softly.

"Sorry to bring it up again", Ron spoke up. "But do you think that special person from the prediction might be someone you will fall in love with? Maybe that is meant by 'the sign'?"

"Good thought, Ron", Harry agreed. "That would make quite some sense. What do you think, Hermione?"

"Well, it could be possible", Hermione replied slowly. She had not yet thought about it from this perspective. But she did not even know what love really was, so how would she recognize it?

Suddenly, someone sat down on the free chair next to Hermione, startling her almost to death. "Hi, Hermione", Ginny greeted her with a wide grin on her face.

"Ron told me you lot would meet today and invited me to join. Sorry for being late, we had to revise some Quidditch strategies today."

"I forgot to mention I invited her", Ron said apologetically.

"Hey Gin", Harry said and smiled at Ginny. Hermione suddenly felt annoyed as she heard him using this nickname and wished he would stop smiling at Ginny.

"So, what did I miss?", Ginny asked looking around.

Hermione explained about their unsuccessful attempts at interpreting the prediction. Ginny just listened and nodded. "Oh, and your brother is dating Hannah Abbott's sister", Harry added as Hermione had finished.

"Yeah, I know", Ginny replied.

"You know?", Ron said disbelievingly, his eyes wide open. "But I didn't tell anyone yet. Wait, does mum know!?"

"I talked to Hannah the other day and she told me you were meeting Sophie. And no, mum does not know. I didn't tell anyone", Ginny said, obviously enjoying the situation.

"Okay then", Ron said in relief.

"Do you have any idea what 'the sign' could be?", Harry asked Ginny. "Actually, we thought it might be love or falling in love, something like that. What do you think?"

Ginny rested her chin on her hand and thought about it for a moment. Everyone stared at her expectantly, especially Hermione. "Might be", Ginny finally said. "Might be not."

Ron groaned, Harry just nodded and Hermione kept staring at Ginny. She noticed that the redhead had put on some mascara, which made her eyes even more beautiful. Her gaze wandered over Ginny's face until it got stuck on the girl's earlobe. A pretty camellia-shaped earring was drawing her attention. I's petals where white and a small piece of gold sat in the middle. It was really beautiful.

"Uhm, Hermione?" Hermione startled and looked around. Now, everyone was staring at her.

"I was just thinking about something, don't mind it", Hermione uttered, fixating her eyes on the glass of lemonade in front of her.

"So", Ron started speaking. "Just hypothetically speaking, if love really was the sign, who could it be? It's obviously not me. It's not Harry as well, right? You're not interested in Harry, are you?"

"Don't talk nonsense!", Hermione scoffed at him. "I've never been interested in Harry, he's like a brother to me." Harry showed her a thumps-up.

"It could be someone in this room!", Ron continued. "You never know, it might be possible." He leaned over towards Ginny, mustered her with a conspiratorial expression and asked: "Could it be you?"

Ginny just stared at him for a second, blinking a few times. Hermione held her breath though she did not know why.

Then, Ginny suddenly stood up and hit Ron right on the head.

"Ouch!", Ron cried holding his head. "What was that for? I only joked, Gin! I didn't mean to offend you".

Ginny gave him a disapproving look. "Offending me by what? By suggesting Hermione could like me? Or that I might fancy girls?"

Harry and Hermione were just staring at them, their eyes wandering from brother to sister and back again.

"Oh don't be stupid, Gin", Ron tried to calm her down. "I know you fancy boys, it was just a joke, really I-"

"Well you're wrong", Ginny cut him off angrily.

Ron's mouth fell open and he was dumbfounded. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat to say something, but Harry was faster. "You fancy girls? By Merlin's beard, I had no idea, but it's cool with me."

"Thank you, Harry", Ginny replied and smiled at him. "I am sorry I didn't realize sooner."

"It's okay", Harry replied. "What's in the past stays in the past." He winked at Ginny.

"B-but, you dated Dean, and-"

"Oh cut it off, Ron", Ginny snapped. "This does not mean I cannot like girls. Oh, and don't tell mum or I will tell her about you and Sophie."

"Okay, okay, got it", Ron said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Are you seeing anyone?", Harry asked curiously. He really seemed to be okay with the issue, Hermione noticed in relief.

"No." Ginny shook her head.

"How about Hermione?", Harry asked jokingly. "You would make a nice couple, if Hermione would fancy girls as well". He rammed his elbow in Ron's side seeking for approval.

Hermione could feel Ginny's body tensing up next to her. Concerned, she looked up at the redhead's face. Harry had only made a joke, hopefully she had not misunderstood it. She startled when she saw the sad expression in the redhead's eyes. But it vanished the same second, she noticed it. Maybe it had been just her imagination.

"If I was that person, Hermione would have noticed the 'sign' by now, wouldn't she?" Ginny raised her eyebrows looking at everyone at the table.

"Right", Harry said and nodded. "If love really was the sign, Hermione should start looking at the men around her now, I reckon."

"Yeah, probably…", Ginny sighed. Hermione glanced at the young woman next to her. Something was off about her. Or was she only imagining things? Ron and Harry did not seem to notice anything, but they were usually bad at sensing other's feelings.

Hermione wanted to shrug off the idea, but it had already started to grow in her mind, like Venoumus Tentacula. Or like white camellias.

Could it be that Ginny had a crush on her?!


	8. Judging a Book by it's Cover

Chapter 8 – Judging a Book by it's Cover

Hermione's head was aching as stepped out of Percy's office where Mrs. Woodstock had send her to get a few files the older witch needed for her own work. Hermione was angry, because Mrs. Woodstock had not sent Pansy instead, who did not seem even half as busy as Hermione. This was not the primary reason for her headache though. No, there were other, more important problems. Not only did she still have absolutely no clue what the mysterious 'sign' was supposed to be, she also had been totally distracted from work, because the question whether Ginny had a crush on her or not kept clinging to her brain like a Wrackspurt infection.

A middle-aged wizard from the Goblin Liaison Office walked past Hermione. She stared at him intensively, but nothing happened. No sudden revelation. No electric shocks running through her body. Nothing. He obviously wasn't the one.

After talking to Ron and Harry a while ago, Hermione had reconsidered what they had said: The person she was searching for could be right next to her. Therefore, she had adopted the strategy of staring at literally everyone she saw until she could be sure that nothing special had happened. Although she had no idea whether this strategy was not purely a waste of her precious time, it had been the only thing she could come up with since her decision to believe in the prediction.

Of course, her strange behavior had not went unnoticed by her co-workers. More than once she had been asked whether she was okay when people noticed her staring. Some people had even changed sides when they saw Hermione approaching along the corridor. Naturally, Hermione had started to feel embarrassed about her behavior, so she had proceeded to hiding behind plants and statues while trying to get a good look on everyone. Two days ago, she had squatted behind a goblin statue near the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, when a middle-aged chubby witch passed by. As usual, Hermione had narrowed her eyes and stared at the witch without blinking. Suddenly, a tingling sensation was spreading in her body. Was this the sign!?, she had thought in surprise and jumped on her feet. As it turned out, her legs had just fallen asleep.

Hermione shuddered at the memory as she stopped her steps in front of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. Two wizards arrived as well and waited behind her. Hermione shot them a quick glance. She sighed in relief when she noticed that she had already checked them. Staring at people all the time while making sure not to miss anything was more exhausting than she had expected.

The elevator arrived and they entered. Hermione closed her eyes as it moved downwards, trying to shut out all thoughts, but it was impossible.

And then there was the thing with Ginny and whether she liked Hermione or not. In a romantical way. To be honest, Hermione had no idea what to think. On one hand, Ginny's description of her ideal type had indeed resembled Hermione a lot, but on the other hand Hermione could not come up with any concrete evidence that would prove her assumption wrong or right. She tried to recollect behavior or words from Ginny which would could possible indicate that she was interested in Hermione, but the more she thought the more confused she got. She really had no idea about love and dating.

And how to react if Ginny really liked her? Hermione had no idea what she would do in such a situation. Strangely, however, she felt a little excited at the thought. But at the same time, Hermione felt ashamed of herself, because if felt like she was accusing Ginny of something that might not even be true. Ginny was probably not interested in her at all. Wasn't Hermione just thinking too highly of herself? As if a woman like Ginny would ever like her anyways.

Hermione stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the office. Luckily, there was not much work left to do so close to Christmas, so she would be able to leave soon.

Hermione knocked on Mrs. Woodstock's door and entered her office. Her eyes fell on Pansy, who was apparently discussing something with Mrs. Woodstock, but both witches fell silent as soon as they saw Hermione. Hermione forced a smile on her face and handed Mrs. Woodstock the files she had requested. "Thank you", Mrs. Woodstock said and nodded approvingly. "My pleasure", Hermione lied and went out. She wondered what the two had been discussing about.

Around two hours later, Hermione got ready to leave the office. She was about to put on her winter cloak when she suddenly saw Pansy getting up from her desk hurrying over towards her.

"What do you want?", Hermione asked coldly while crossing her arms over her chest. She felt tired and exhausted and was not in the mood for faked friendliness right now.

"Well, I heard from some colleagues that you behave a little strange lately and they wonder what's going on with you", Pansy said, looking at Hermione with an unreadable expression.

"Look, who's talking", Hermione snorted.

Pansy frowned apparently not understanding what Hermione was referring to. "Anyways", her ex-bully continued, "I think I know what your problem is."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Do you?" Her despise for Pansy was growing more and more. How could she talk to her like that, behaving as she knew everything?

"You heard a prediction, right? And now you're looking for someone the prediction told you to find, isn't it?"

Hermione just stared at the other witch, so shocked, she was not able to utter even a single word. What the bloody hell?

Pansy laughed, apparently amused about Hermione's expression. "You wonder how I figured that out, don't you?"

Hermione cleared her throat. She was so taken aback, she did not care about upholding her hostile expression anymore. "W-well, I-i am indeed interested how…you came up with such an absolutely absurd assumption", she stuttered not very convincingly.

"I'll tell you somewhere more private", Pansy replied. "Let's go to the cafeteria."

"I didn't know they had a café here as well", Hermione said after they had placed their orders.

"If you'd join us for lunch once in a while, you would know that", Pansy grinned.

Hermione could not believe the situation she maneuvered herself into. She was sitting at a small table in the ministry's café corner, waiting for their coffee to come out with no other than Pansy Parkinson. The Pansy Parkinson! Not only did she believe in predictions made by Professor Trelawney now, no, even worse, she was spending her free time with the person she hated the most. Had someone put her under an imperius curse?

"Now answer my question", Hermione demanded while giving Pansy a piercing look.

"Okay, okay", Pansy said haughtily. "I just figured out by hearing about your behavior. How you go around staring at people as if searching for something or someone. You must know that my granny was a fortune teller. When I was younger, she told me lots of stories about her work and the people that came to see her."

While Pansy was speaking, their coffee appeared in front of them and Hermione took the chance to avert her eyes from her colleague. Imagining the young Pansy listening to stories from her 'granny', maybe sitting in the old woman's lap, suddenly made her see Pansy as a human with feelings and memories like herself. She did not want to think like this. She wanted to hate her.

"I suddenly remembered some stories my granny told me about people coming to ask about love, success and similar things. Their predictions involved another person, they had to find and some of this people behaved just like you do now", Pansy continued. "At least according to my granny. So, I just put two and two together."

"And why are you telling me all this?", Hermione asked dismissively.

"Because I want to help you", Pansy replied.

"You? Helping me?" Hermione laughed humorlessly. "Do you think I'm stupid? You have no reason to help me! You hate me as much as I do hate you!"

Hermione was ready to fight. Maybe not with magic, but with words. She waited for Pansy's retort, but nothing happened. Pansy just looked down on her coffee in silence, hiding her eyes from Hermione's view. "Go to the library", the woman finally said, still not looking at Hermione. "You might find some books, that could help you. That's all I have to say." The she suddenly stood up, grabbed her coffee and left without saying another word. Hermione did not turn around to look after her. She was too confused about everything.

A short while later Hermione found herself in the Ministry's library, which was located right next to the Department of Magical Education. The library was of similar size as the one they had in Hogwarts and most books were the same as well. However, there were a few more sections about more advanced magic and wizarding law.

Hermione walked past rows and rows of shelves until she reached the divination section. It was quite small compared to the other sections, but nonetheless it contained several hundreds of books. Since Hermione had no clue where to start, she just wandered aimlessly around the shelves, scanning the spines of the books with her eyes. 'Cristal Gazing in the 21st Century', 'Divination for Dummies', 'Dream Analysis: A new Approach', 'What Palms Tell Us'. Nothing, that could possibly help Hermione. But then one title caught her eye. 'Stories from Six Decades of Fortunetelling – The Most Curious Cases". Hermione stopped and let her eyes wander along the spine to the author's name. Payten Parkinson. So Pansy's story was true.

Hermione took the book from the shelf and opened it on the spot. While skimming over the first couple of pages she walked over to a secluded corner, where a few armchairs were situated. Hermione was the only person in sight, but it did not surprise her, because most Ministry officials pretty much stopped educating themselves after they had secured their job. Hermione could not understand how one could lose interest in learning new things.

She sat down on the nearest chair, the book in her lap. The author, Pansy's grandmother, had selected the most interesting or strange cases from her career as a fortuneteller and compiled them in the book. It contained about a hundred of stories, so it took Hermione quite some time to find the ones Pansy had told her about.

The first story was about a young man who had come to see the fortuneteller to ask about whom he should get married to. The fortuneteller's answer had been quite intriguing: "The one you're with is not the one. Neither is the one you desire. The one you need has to be found. Find the blue rose and you find the one." The man followed the fortuneteller's advice and traveled the whole country to search for the blue rose. One day, he crossed a market place where a young woman was selling flowers, a blue rose stuck in her hair. The man approached her and the rest of the story was pretty much obvious.

It was an interesting story, but it didn't help Hermione in any way. The man knew what kind of sign he had to look for, but Hermione still knew nothing. Quickly, she turned page after page, searching for another story.

The next story she found was about a middle-aged witch who dreamed to become a famous singer, so she asked the fortune teller whether she would ever be able to make her dream come true. Similar to the first story, the fortune teller told her to look out for a person who would ask for her help some day. If she helped the person, her dream would become true. If not, she would never become a singer for as long as she lived. From that day on, the woman asked everyone she met whether they needed help and thanks to that she became the most loved witch in town. One day, a man thanked her for her help by letting her perform as a singer in his pub. And that marked the beginning of her successful career as a singer.

Hermione sighed. Another useless story, providing not the slightest hint for her own problem. Why didn't Professor Trelawney give her at least a tiny little hint? Was this some kind of revenge for Hermione's behavior during divination class?

As quickly as possible, she turned page after page, but there was no other story left that was similar to her case. Hermione closed the book and tossed it in the armchair next to her. She got up and paced around the armchairs thinking about what to do next. But she had no idea. The tiny bit of hope that had started to grow inside her after seeing the book had died. Maybe Pansy had known that the book was useless and this was just another of her mean tricks, Hermione thought and anger swelled in her chest.

She picked up the book and went to put it back onto the shelf. On her way out, she suddenly noticed a shelf she had never seen before. "Love & Dating" was written in thick pink letters on the sign above the shelf. Hermione stopped in front of it, frowning. She had never seen this shelf before, even though she had thought she'd knew everything about this library. Was it because she had never searched for this kind of books? A little embarrassed, she glanced around to check if anyone was watching her. But she was still the only one around.

She mustered the shelf again and noticed that one book stood out from the shelf slightly. Hermione tiptoed to push the book back into the shelf as her eyes fell on the title: "Wooing Witches – The Ultimate Guidebook [Lesbian Edition]". Hermione blushed as she saw the tile. She looked around once more, making sure she was still unobserved, then she pulled the book from the shelf. Maybe it contained some useful tips for her to find out whether Ginny liked her or not.

Hermione pressed the book to her chest and headed to the librarian's counter as fast as possible. She handed it to the stern looking woman, making sure the cover was face down. The librarian however, turned the book around to register the title on the list of borrowed books. She shot Hermione a piercing glance and the young woman blushed instantly. "I-it's only for research purposes", she stuttered.

"Sure", the librarian said indifferently and handed her the book. Hermione fled the library as fast as her feet would carry her.


	9. Chapter 9 - She loves me, she loves me not

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the Kudos and Comments I got for this story so far. Keep it up!

Chapter 9 – She loves me, she loves me not

Hermione was sitting in front of her desk, "Wooing Witches – The Ultimate Guidebook [Lesbian Edition]" in front of her. Her face was even redder than it had been in the library as she kept on reading and reading. There were so many interesting things she had not known. Like how to meet other witches, what to do on dates and how to flirt. There was also a section about erotic stuff, but Hermione had skipped it, because she felt it might be too much information. The damage was done, though. Inappropriate images of Ginny had already started to form in her mind, making her feeling guilty and embarrassed.

Hermione turned to the next page and finally reached the section she had been searching for: "How to find out if she likes you". Following the introduction, a number of possible hints, along with explanations were listed. Hermione copied them to a fresh role of parchment, leaving some space between every headline.

She enjoys talking to you more than necessary

She sends you owls first

She touches you more than necessary

She tells you that she is still single

She looks at you intently

She compliments you a lot

She seeks your attention

She tries to look pretty and/or sexy in front of you

She shows off her spells to impress you

She tries to be alone with you

She talks about you a lot in front of others

Hermione mustered the list she had just made and tried to get her thoughts straight. Pretty much the same as muggle dating, with the exception of owls and spells, she noticed. She picked up her quill again and carefully started to fill in the blanks while trying to remember every moment she had spent with Ginny over the last couple of months.

One hour later, she finally wrote down the last word. Usually she could write half a book in an hour but today she had not written much, because she had spent most of the time thinking. Slowly, she reread her text to come up with a conclusion.

She enjoys talking to you more than necessary

Ginny is my friend

Friends talk to each other a lot

What is the meaning of 'more than necessary'?

She does not talk more or less than before

More information needed

She sends you owls first

True

but it's because I was too busy to send them first

She touches you more than necessary

Define 'more than necessary'

Touches me sometimes, but never unpleasantly

Never touched me inappropriately

Friends can touch each other (to a certain extend)

No idea about this one

She tells you that she is still single

True

But Harry and Ron also told me

Are they interested in me? NO!

I asked them about it, so of course they told me

She looks at you intently

True (I think)

Have to pay more attention to that

She compliments you a lot

True

But friends do that as well

Does it more than others though

She seeks your attention

No

Ginny's no attention-seeker in general

Useless advice

She tries to look pretty and/or sexy in front of you

She is pretty in general

Don't know how she looks if she is not in front of me

Stupid advice

She looks sexy (scratch that)/ cute, but is it important?

She shows off her spells to impress you

Flying skills rather than spells

To save my life, not to impress

She tries to be alone with you

Called Luna and Neville when we were alone

Not really

She talks about you a lot in front of others

Investigate!

Does she like me?

Hermione stared at the question she had written at the end of the list. No matter how much she thought it over and over, she could not come up with a definite answer. According to the list, the chance of Ginny liking her was quite low. Too many things did not match or were unconfirmed. Writing 'No' as the conclusion, would be the most logical answer. But somehow, Hermione could not bring herself to do it. Exhausted, the young woman ruffled through her hair, messing it all up, but she did not care.

There was only one option, she concluded. She had to start a thorough investigation to gather more facts.

XXX

A short while later, Hermione had arrived at the Holy Harpies' Quidditch pitch. She had used the well-tried Galleon to let Ginny know that she would visit her training, but she had not waited for an answer, because she somehow knew that Ginny would be happy about her presence.

Now Hermione was sitting all alone on the spectators' ranks, shivering in the cold December air. Her eyes were glued to the sky where the players were flying on their broomsticks like there was no tomorrow. Hermione shook her head; she would never understand what people liked about Quidditch so much.

Her eyes found Ginny and they followed her every movement. The redhead looked stunning in her emerald green uniform. Hermione had used to dislike that color because it reminded her of Slytherin, but seeing Ginny racing on her broom from one side of the pitch to the other like a green canon ball changed her opinion. Emerald green was a beautiful color. And Ginny was a beautiful woman. So beautiful in fact, that Hermione was unable to avert her eyes from her. Ginny's movements were kind of hypnotizing and Hermione could feel a long-needed relaxation spreading through her limps as she watched her.

Suddenly, the redhead flew over to where Hermione was sitting, slowing her pace as she approached the other woman. "Thanks for coming, Hermione!", she shouted as she passed by, a wide and happy grin on her face. Hermione smiled and showed her a thumps-up.

Ginny flew one more round on her broomstick before approaching again. "Just ten more minutes!", she called. "I will-!" Hermione could not understand the second sentence, because Ginny had passed by already. She was flying over to the team captain, whose name was Marina Bishop as Hermione had found out by now. The two women were discussing something, smiling at each other understandingly. As she observed their intimacy, Hermione suddenly felt the urge to shoot a jinx at Bishop.

"Would you like some hot tea, Miss?", a voice right next to her suddenly asked.

Hermione shrieked and almost fell off her seat. She wanted to let out a curse, but then she recognized the house elf Minky, who was holding a tray with a teapot and a cup on it, looking up at her with the most adorable expression on her face. Hermione's curse got stuck in her throat, causing her to cough while she said: "M-Minky! N-nice to-to see you!" She cleared her throat and smiled at the elf. "Thank you so much for the tea!"

"It is my pleasure, Miss", Minky replied handing Hermione the steaming tea. Just when the elf was about to leave, an idea crossed Hermione's mind. "Minky, would you spend me some company please?", she asked putting on the sweetest smile she had. "It is quite boring just to sit here all by myself, you know."

Minky looked at her hesitantly for a moment, apparently she had never been asked such a thing before. Finally, she sat down next to Hermione, nervously clenching her fists into the fabric of the towel she was wearing. "Does Miss not like Quidditch?", the elf asked her.

"I like it as long as I don't need to be up there", Hermione replied. Minky nodded obviously satisfied with this answer.

"Minky, I want to ask you a few things", Hermione said, her eyes not on the elf but on the pretty redhead flying several dozens of feet above their heads. "But you mustn't tell anyone, can you do that?"

"Minky is not sure, Miss", the elf replied insecurely. "You can ask Minky anything you like, but if the mistresses want to know about it, Minky has to tell them."

Hermione pondered over this for a few moments. Sure, she was not Minky's owner, so she could not expect her to keep quiet only because she wished so. She decided it would be worth trying though, since the possibility of someone asking about their conversation was really low.

"That is okay as well, Minky, don't worry", Hermione said, giving the elf a reassuring smile. "You know Ginny, right? The seeker?"

"Miss means Mistress Weasley?", Minky asked.

"Yes, exactly", Hermione replied. "Do you happen to know if she talks about me sometimes?" Hermione felt her heart pounding faster as she was eagerly expecting the elf's answer.

"Yes, Mistress Weasley does talk about Miss Granger sometimes", Minky answered after a thinking for a few seconds.

"So what does she say about me?", Hermione asked, dying of curiosity.

"A while ago, Mistress Weasley told the other Mistresses, that she cannot join the team dinner, because she was going to see Miss Granger instead. And once, me has heard her talking about Miss Granger's brilliant mind and excellent skill to Mistress Kim. Mistress Weasley is really proud and happy to be Miss Granger's friend me thinks. This is all I can tell you, Miss."

Hermione felt a wave of relief rolling over her. Ginny was talking about her, when she was not around and she had even skipped team dinner to be with Hermione. She thanked the elf and pulled out the list she had made earlier, scribbling the newfound information under the corresponding headline.

"Minky, I have one more question", Hermione addressed the elf again. "Is there one Harpy Ginny is really close with? I mean closer than with the others?"

Minky just stared at Hermione, obviously not understanding what she was getting at. How could she ever ask a house elf if Ginny was romantically interested in one of her teammates?

"Me does not think so", Minky replied hesitantly. "Mistress Weasley is equally friendly with everyone."

Okay, so Ginny had no interest in Bishop, just as she had told Luna and Neville. The information Hermione had received from the elf slowly started to tip the scales. The possibility of Ginny having a crush on her seemed a little higher than before. Wait, but why was she feeling so happy about it? Could it be, that-? Hermione shrugged off the thought as soon as it tried to enter her head. No way! She only was happy about it, because she would be able to come up with a conclusion for her 'essay' soon. Before she could delve more on the thought, someone approached the ranks where Hermione and Minky were seated.

"Good evening", Luna said dreamily. "I was in the area, so I decided to come by and- Oh, Hermione! That's a quite an amount of Wrackspurts you have clinging to your head!" She eyed Hermione interestedly.

"Might be", Hermione laughed and gestured the blonde to sit down next to her.

"Since when do you watch Quidditch in your free time?", Luna asked.

"Uhm, I just…I just wanted to say hi to Ginny, that's all", Hermione replied nervously. Luna stared at her in suspicion, then a knowing smile spread over her face. "Well, if you say so."

"It's not what you think!", Hermione suddenly exclaimed, causing Minky to shriek in surprise.

Luna just laughed as she swung her long dirty-blonde hair over her shoulder. "I don't know what you're talking about", she said and winked at Hermione. She knew it!, Hermione thought in desperation. But there was nothing to know, was it? It was not as if she liked G- No, stop! Hermione straightened her shoulders and looked up at the sky, her eyes almost immediately finding Ginny. Soon, she was hypnotized by the seeker's movements again, forgetting everything around and inside her.

Shortly after, the players landed and everyone went into the changing rooms, except for Ginny who flew straight over to Hermione and Luna. "Thanks for coming, that's amazing", she greeted them and hugged both girls. Hermione tried to count for how many seconds Ginny did hug each of them and she was sure that she had been hugged at least two seconds longer.

After a few minutes of small talk, Ginny disappeared into the changing room and Hermione and Luna waited for her outside. Hermione hesitated a little, but then she finally addressed the blonde: "Listen Luna, can I ask you something?"

"Sure", Luna said and gave Hermione an encouraging smile. "I thought you would do so."

"You did? Are you a fortune teller now?", Hermione laughed nervously.

"No, but you look like something is on your mind", Luna replied and fumbled on her eggplant earrings to untangle them from her hair.

"Well, I just wonder if Ginny sometimes talks about me when I am not around?", Hermione finally asked.

Luna just mustered her contemplatively for a few moments without saying anything. Hermione hoped she would not ask her why she had asked such a question, because answering it could only end in a really awkward situation.

"Yes, she does a lot", Luna eventually replied and smiled. "Especially when you did not contact her that often until a while ago, she talked about you almost every time we met. Like how much she missed you for example."

"How about now?", Hermione asked curiously.

"She still talks about you of course, but not as much as about Quidditch", Luna replied. "There are some things she is worried about, but these are things you better ask her yourself."

"Worried about what? About Quidditch?", Hermione inquired.

"Like I said, ask her yourself. If you want to get closer to her, you should be more interested about what Ginny does and what she's concerned about." Luna gave Hermione a knowing look. Before Hermione could reply anything, Ginny had come out of the changing room, grinning at them. She seemed really happy about their presence which made Hermione's heart flutter a little.

They went to the Italian restaurant they had been to the last time and Hermione ordered the same weird combination of spicy pasta and butterbeer, because it had grown on her for some reason. Hermione wanted to tell Ginny about the situation with Pansy, but that would have meant she had to tell Luna about the prediction too and she was really tired talking about it, so she decided to tell Ginny another day.

Hermione and Luna listened to Ginny ranting about today's training session and what went well and what did not. If Harry had talked about it, Hermione would have zoomed out after three seconds, but now she absorbed every word the redhead said, while trying to figure out if Ginny was looking at her more than at Luna. But to her disappointment, she seemed to look at Luna way more. Checking if Ginny was touching Hermione more than necessary was also out of the question since the seeker had sat down next to Luna, which meant that Hermione had to sit by herself at the other side of the table.

"And right after Christmas we have to play against the Montrose Magpies", Ginny said, letting out a deep sigh. "If I don't catch the snitch first, Marina will kill me."

"Why is that?", Hermione asked her.

"First of all, the Montrose Magpies are one of the best teams in Great Britain", she explained. "But if it was just that. If I don't catch the snitch I might become a reserve player." Ginny leaned back in her chair and rubbed over her face.

"Reserve player? But why?" Hermione did not understand anything, which made her feel really stupid.

"Because the Magpies' current seeker wants to transfer to the Harpies and if she turns out to play better than me, she will become regular seeker of course", Ginny explained unhappily.

Luna put a hand on the girls' shoulder to comfort her, but she said nothing, leaving the conversation to Hermione and Ginny.

"But that's unfair!", Hermione said agitated. "The Harpies love you, they wouldn't do that, no matter how good some other seeker is!"

Ginny let out a humorless laugh. "Hermione, don't you understand that Quidditch is a professional sport? You might think of it as a stupid game, but it's not. And if someone with better abilities gets my position, there is nothing unfair about that. Your skill is more important than whether your teammates like you or not."

Hermione lowered her head and said nothing, because she felt more stupid than ever. Not because she did not understand Quidditch, but because she had not even tried to understand it. It was the thing Ginny loved the most and Hermione had never even seen a league game nor had she had the faintest idea of the pressure Ginny was suffering from.

Before she could say anything, Ginny leaned forward, looking right into Hermione's eyes. "I'm sorry, Hermione, I sounded a little rude, did I? I didn't mean it, really," She smiled slightly.

"No Ginny, listen, I am so sorry", Hermione said. "I should have asked you to tell me about this sooner, I should have shown more interest in Quidditch and I should-"

"It's okay, Hermione", Ginny laughed. "You have enough concerns of your own to deal with."

"No, really, I am sorry", Hermione said determinedly. "And I will watch your next game and cheer as much as I can, I promise."

An expression of amazement spread over Ginny's face as she heard those words. "Really?", she asked, smiling happily.

"Yep, really", Hermione said, smiling as well.

"I'll lend you my fan-robe", Luna said and winked at Hermione. What was that stupid wink supposed to mean?, Hermione thought a little annoyed.

"Oh before I forget!", Ginny suddenly exclaimed. "My mum allowed me to invite as much friends as I want for Christmas, so I would like to invite you two. And Neville of course, remind me to send him an owl. I hope you'll be there?" She looked at them expectantly.

Christmas at Weasley's? Hermione was not sure what would await her, but she agreed.


	10. A Holly Jolly Christmas?

Chapter 10 – A Holly Jolly Christmas?

"Merry Christmas!", Mrs. Weasley greeted Hermione with a big smile at the front door. She pulled Hermione in a tight hug which made Hermione's rib cage ache, but she did not complain. "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Weasley", Hermione gasped before she was finally released.

It had been months maybe even more than a year since she had last been at the Burrow, but a quick glance around told her that not much had changed. At least not on the ground floor. Hermione's heart pounded a little faster as she followed Mrs. Weasley into the kitchen from where the laughter and voices of at least a dozen people could be heard. She was excited, because it was her first Christmas at the Burrow since she had graduated from Hogwarts and she had not seen some of the Weasleys in years. The only thing that dampened her mood was the fact that she could not be with her parents on Christmas Eve, since they spent the day with other relatives, but she would see them the next day, so it would be fine. And she would see Ginny instead, which would make up for it. Maybe she could also attain some new information for her list, which she had brought along with the presents in her extendable bag.

Hermione still had not come up with a conclusion, and it bothered her quite a lot. To make matters worse, she also had still no clue about the prediction and the mysterious sign. Nothing had happened when she hugged Mrs. Weasley, so she was out.

She entered the kitchen and was immediately overwhelmed by all the sensory inputs. Voices, laughter, odors, movements and steam filled the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley hurried over to the stove as fast as she could and promptly began to stir in one of the gigantic pots. Steam and a smell of mashed potatoes mixed with roasted turkey travelled through the air and lingered in Hermione's nose. Next to Mrs. Weasley stood Fleur, beautiful as always, cutting bread with a huge knife. At the kitchen table, which was already laden with prepared food, some more pots and presents in between, sat George and Bill, the former showing Bill something that looked like an upgraded version of extendable ears, only that this one had an eye at the end. Close to them stood Mr. Weasley, who had lost some more hair, but still looked quite energetic for his age, and Angelina Johnson, George's fiancée. They seemed to be laughing about some joke Mr. Weasley was telling. Next to the wide door leading into the living room, Percy was sitting on a chair, reading a book with a concentrated look on his face. How could he even read in such an environment? Hermione was extraordinarily good at blending out everything around her as well, but the noise and smell and people moving around would be too much even for her.

She took a look inside the living room while proceeding into the kitchen. The sofa and armchairs, which were usually located right in the middle of the room, were pushed aside and had made space for a long dining table with more chairs around it than Hermione could count at first sight. In one corner was a Christmas tree, which had been cut off a little at the top to make it fit into the room. It was heavily loaded with decoration of all kinds and colors and several chains of Christmas lights put the room in a warm light. Celestina Warbeck's 'You Charmed the Heart Right out of Me' was belting from a small radio next to the tree.

The small sofa, now flushed against the wall, looked like a chicken roost, because Ron, Harry, Luna, Neville and Ginny were sharing the space that was intended for only two people. Hermione grinned as she saw Ron almost falling off one of the armrests. Neville was squeezed in-between Harry and Luna and he looked quite happy; Harry on the other hand looked rather uncomfortable. Luna was sitting half in Ginny's lap which annoyed Hermione more than it should have. Charlie was sitting next to them on a wide armchair, some red burns, probably caused by dragons, in his face, but he looked smooth overall. Ron's new girlfriend Sophie apparently had not arrived yet, as Hermione could not spot her anywhere.

It took Hermione more than five minutes to get into the living room, since her entrance was followed by hugs, greetings, handshakes and more hugs. Percy even attempted to engage her in a discussion about the Ministry's newest regulations on broomsticks, something that he seemed to consider extremely interesting, but Hermione cut him off without further ado. She would not let thoughts of work ruin Christmas.

Before she proceeded into the next room, she took all the presents she had prepared out of her extendable bag. Her heart sunk a little as she lay the one for Ginny on top of the tower of presents on the table. She had spent lots of time on the present, what if Ginny did not like it? She shook off the thought. It would be fine, she assured to herself.

More greetings and hugs awaited her when she finally entered the living room. Everyone seemed delighted to get the chance to stand up from the sofa even if it was just for a few moments.

"Why are you squeezed in here like this?", Hermione asked curiously after she had said her 'Merry Christmases' to everyone.

"Mum would not allow more people in the kitchen", Ron explained with an annoyed expression on his face. "We're not allowed to sit at the table, either, because she thinks it's bad manners when people sit down earlier than others or something. I think it's stupid, but you know how she is. Won't let anyone meddle in her business." He shot an angry glance towards the kitchen.

"Yep, and she also does not want us to run around, because she thinks we're going to ruin the Christmas tree. Mum apparently has not realized we're not kids anymore", Ginny said with the same expression as her brother. Hermione once more realized how similar the siblings sometimes were.

"Sit here", Charlie said to Hermione as he got up from the armchair. "I'll go to talk to dad, so Mum cannot throw me out of the kitchen". He chuckled slightly and walked out.

Hermione sat down and noticed that the armchair was quite wide leaving some space between her and both armrests. As she looked up at the others again five pairs of eyes were staring at her expectantly.

"Okay, so who wants to-", she started but was cut off when Ginny, faster than a firebolt - jumped from the sofa right into the armchair.

Ron, Luna and Harry shot Ginny angry looks but she just grinned and stuck out her tongue. Only Neville did not seem to mind remaining in his tight space.

Hermione shifted a little to the left to make more room for Ginny to sit. Even though the armchair was wide, it was made for one person, so Hermione's thigh was flushed against Ginny's and their arms continuously brushed against each other. Hermione felt warmth creeping up her body and she suddenly felt a little lightheaded.

"When is Sophie coming?", Ginny asked her brother and shifted in the chair, pressing her arm even more against Hermione's. Hermione could feel her palm growing slightly sweaty. She should ask Mrs. Weasley to turn down the heating.

Ron flushed at the mentioning of his girlfriend's name. "I think she'll be here soon. She sent me an owl this morning, saying she would be a little late."

"So your mum knows and is okay with her?", Harry asked.

"Yeah, she was happy actually. Thought I wasn't over Hermione yet, even though it's long in the past. She still thinks it's a pity we did not end up together, though", he mumbled.

Hermione wished that Mrs. Weasley would finally give up on the thought that her son and Hermione would have a happy ending somehow. She had written a few letters to Hermione over the years, asking her to reconsider her decision. Hermione had been really irritated by that, because first of all, if Ron really wanted her back, he should have send such letters himself – well, actually he had; so at least he should not let his mother send such letters. Secondly, it seemed like no one had cared for Hermione's feelings at all, and it was always Ron who was regarded as the victim of her 'cold-heartedness'. The only person who had asked about her feelings had been Ginny.

Hermione wanted to say something to Ron about Mrs. Weasley's attitude, but decided against it in the last moment. It would only disturb the Christmas spirit and since Ron had Sophie now, Mrs. Weasley should be able to move on.

"Good you have Sophie now", Ginny said, an irritated expression on her face. Could it be that she was angry that her mum still liked the fact of Ron and Hermione together? Or was it because she was jealous that Ron had been with Hermione? Hermione shot her a thoughtful side glance and decided to put these thoughts on the list later.

"I am glad you found someone", Luna chimed in. She wore her hair in a thick plait that was falling over her shoulder and reached almost until her hips. Small branches of fir were woven into it, which looked really pretty. Hermione noticed, that Harry was glancing at the young woman, a slight smile on his lips. Neville, too, seemed to notice this, since his excited expression had changed into a miserable one. Hermione felt sad for him, even though she did not really know what it was like to feel unrequited love.

"Thanks, Luna", Ron said and smiled at the blonde.

"So only Charlie and Gin left?", Harry said in a playful voice. "Then your mum would finally have the full set of daughters and sons in law. Oh sorry, I mean daughters, no sons." He quickly adjusted his glasses in an attempt to avert the piercing look Ginny was shooting at him. Ron looked uncomfortable, but refrained from giving any tactless remarks like he sometimes did.

"Did you tell your mum and dad?", Neville asked in a hushed voice, because apparently, he was the only one of the boys who was aware that his was not something to talk about carelessly when your whole family was in the next room.

Ginny shook her head and quickly glanced at the opening leading to the kitchen. The rattling of pots and porcelain mixed with George and Bill's laughter and some orders by Mrs. Weasley, probably towards Fleur, were drifting towards them.

Hermione looked at Ginny and noticed that the redhead still wore the same white camellia earrings. She wondered if she bought them herself or if someone had given them to her as a gift.

"No need to rush it", Luna said while adjusting one of the fir branches. Hermione saw Harry's eyes following the blonde's hands' every movement.

Ginny seemed as if she wanted to say something, but at that very moment the noises coming from the kitchen changed into greetings and 'Merry Christmases' once more indicating the arrival of Sophie Abbott.

Hannah Abbott's sister made her way into the living room faster than Hermione. When she entered all heads turned towards the new arrival, curious what kind of girl she would be.

"Merry Christmas", a dark blonde, blue eyed girl said. One could tell she was feeling overwhelmed by all the people and noise around. She was one or two inches taller than Hermione and lean, although less athletic than Ginny. Hermione thought that Sophie seemed to be a nice person, but of course she could not be sure yet.

Ron walked over to his girlfriend and pulled her into a tight hug. Although Hermione could only see his back, she knew that he was happy. She could not deny that she envied them. A quick glance around showed her that she was not the only one. Harry's eyes were wandering from the couple to Luna; Luna looked at the two with a dreamier than unusual expression; Neville's face bore a mixture of longing and envy and Ginny…Hermione's heart skipped a beat as her eyes met Ginny's. She had expected her to look at Ron and Sophie like everyone else did.

Hermione did not avert her eyes, nor did Ginny. The feeling of the redhead's thigh and arm against her own body became more intense than before, even though neither of them moved. It was as if the world was standing still. The noise from the kitchen was gone. The song from the radio inaudible. Only Hermione and Ginny, whose profile was rendered in the soft, warm light cast by the Christmas tree.

"Mum, stop it!" The sound of Ron's voice broke the spell and the noise in the house suddenly crushed in on Hermione like an exploding Blast-Ended Skrewt. Hermione's and Ginny's heads turned towards the noise in unison.

Mrs. Weasley had entered the living room and was taking pictures of a red-faced Ron and Sophie with an old magic camera.

"Don't be silly son, you will thank me for the pictures one day", Mrs. Weasley nagged as she kept taking pictures while Ron buried his face in his hands. "I'll make you a beautiful photo album for your wedding day", she said to Sophie, who looked as if she would love nothing more than that the ground would open and swallow her up.

Hermione watched them in amusement and just when she was about to wonder how they would fit Sophie on the sofa, Mrs. Weasley put away the camera and pronounced dinner ready.

One by one the remaining Weasleys and relatives came in from the kitchen and joined the friends already surrounding the table. Mrs. Weasley had come up with a seating order, so everyone's names were written on small cards decorating the plates. Hermione found hers towards the end of the table. Mr. Weasley was sitting left from her and Luna sat down to her right. Across from her Charlie was taking his position. Hermione felt disappointed that Ginny was sitting at the other end of the table, which suddenly seemed longer than before. The redhead was sitting next to Bill, whom she was really close with, so Hermione figured that she would be happy with the seating order.

As the food appeared on the table, Hermione's disappointment vanished a little and made room for excitement about the choices that presented themselves in front of her.

She tried to taste a small amount of everything, which was almost impossible actually. A slice of roasted turkey, smoked salmon on whole grain bread, a plate of mushroom soup, several kinds of parfait, a serving of fresh salad, two sausages, steamed carrots and cabbage and lastly a pudding found their way into Hermione's stomach.

While they ate she talked to Mr. Weasley about work at the ministry, Charlie told them about his work with dragons, which was exciting as usual and Luna entertained them with funny stories from her encounters with magical creatures.

After everyone was so full they had become too lazy to talk, Mrs. Weasley cleared the table with a wisp of her wand and a moment later the table was laden with presents over presents. Hermione could barely see Charlies face behind the presents anymore.

They made quite a procedure out of it. Everyone had to open a present in turn and announce from whom he got it. Hermione got the usual Weasley-sweater from Mrs. Weasley - navy this year - a set of new high-quality quills from Mr. Weasley, a box of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from George and Ron, a book about dragons from Charlie – he had prepared the same book for everyone – a coupon for Flourish & Blotts from Harry, a Holy Harpies poster from Luna – apparently she wanted Hermione to get into the mood for the upcoming game -, the new edition of 'Hogwarts: A History" from Bill and Fleur and a small box of magical herbs helping against cold and other illnesses from Neville.

Time passed and they were opening presents for at least two hours now. Everyone looked quite worn out, but Hermione felt excited because Ginny's present was still left unopened.

"Ginny, it's your turn", Mrs. Weasley said at the other end of the table and Hermione's eyes promptly darted in her direction.

"Okay, this present is the last one for me and it's from Hermione", Ginny said and smiled at Hermione. It seemed as if miles were between them. Hermione hated this damn long table.

Her heart started pounding faster as she watched Ginny unwrapping the present she had prepared so carefully over the last few days. She had stayed up two whole nights to finish it in time.

Ginny had finished unwrapping and now held a thin book bound in dark brown leather in her hands. Carefully she opened it and her eyes glided over the first page. An inaudible 'wow' formed on her lips as she read on.

Everyone was eying the redhead curiously until Ron broke the silence: "What did you get?"

"A book", Ginny replied shortly and kept flipping through the pages.

"Yeah, I can see that", Ron scoffed.

"It's a book containing useful spells for Quidditch and everything related to it", Hermione spoke up before Ron would become too impatient. "You remember when I made Harry's glasses repel water in first year? Or was it second? Anyways, I collected all kinds of spells from different books about Quidditch and I invented some useful spells myself as well. Like tightening one's grip around the broomstick without increased use of strength." Hermione felt proud as she explained this to everyone.

"Wow, can I get one too?", Harry asked obviously impressed.

"If you become a professional player. Maybe", Hermione teased him. She looked over to Ginny who still had not said anything.

Their eyes met and Hermione felt a shudder as she saw the astonishment and amazement in the other woman's face.

"Thank you so much, Hermione", Ginny uttered. "How did you come up with all of this? It's wonderful! Thank you so much!" The redhead looked happier than Hermione had ever seen her, her light brown eyes filled with a warmth that was travelling all the distance towards Hermione filling her heart with it. Hermione felt relieved that Ginny liked her present even more than she had expected. She mentally patted her own shoulder for this idea.

A few more people opened their last presents while Hermione kept shooting glances at Ginny who was still holding the book, carefully, as if it would break if she clutched it too tight. Their gazes met a few times and both looked away shyly after a moment of eye contact.

"Hermione, now it's your turn", Luna said. She looked exhausted and a little weary as everyone else except Ginny and Mrs. Weasley did. Hermione noticed that Mr. Weasley had fallen asleep.

"Alright", Hermione said and reached for her last present. It was rectangular and wrapped in red and gold, the Gryffindor colors. "This one's from Ginny." She felt Ginny's eyes on her as she unwrapped the present and her palms became moist again.

Carefully, she loosened the ribbon and opened the wrapping paper without ripping it too much.

She was looking at herself and Ginny. They were standing underneath a huge willow near the Great Lake of Hogwarts, smiling and waving. It was a photograph taken right after they had sat their N.E.W.T.s during their last summer at Hogwarts. The picture was held by a silver frame ornamented with flowers and small birds. It was only a photograph but Hermione felt like it was the best present she had ever received.

"What did you get?" Ron asked impatiently. Hermione would have sent him a scorning look, but she was too absorbed by the picture to mind.

"It's a photo of Hermione and me we took during our last year at Hogwarts", Ginny replied instead of Hermione. "I noticed she doesn't have many pictures at her home, so I got her one. I reckoned it might help to make her place feel more like a home."

Hermione gulped as she tried to fight back the tears that were suddenly forming in her eyes. She did not know why she was moved so much by this simple photograph, but the fact that Ginny was the only one who had given her something truly personal and that she had thought about Hermione's feelings made it a really special present.

"Thank you so much", she whispered and finally looked at Ginny. Even though the redhead most certainly could not hear the quiet whisper, she knew that her gratitude was written all over her face. "I will put it on my desk, so I can see it every day", she added. Ginny grinned happily and Hermione once more noticed how beautiful she was. Maybe it was due to the warm lights of the Christmas tree.

After they had finally finished unwrapping presents, everyone was so tired that Mrs. Weasley commanded those who would stay the night to go to bed immediately. Neville, Luna and Sophie were escorted outside where they disapparated to their respective homes. Mrs. Weasley would not let Sophie sleep over yet, Ron had explained to Hermione grumpily.

Hermione had agreed to stay overnight, because Harry would be staying too. It would be like those good old times she sometimes missed, but then the thought of Voldemort crossed her mind and she was not sure anymore if she really missed those times.

She eagerly listened as Mrs. Weasley announced who would sleep where, but it was actually the same as usual. Bill and Fleur would sleep in Bill's room, George would sleep in his room, which was still referred to as 'Fred and George's room', even though Fred had passed away more than three years ago. Hermione still felt sad whenever she heard his name. Harry and Ron would sleep in Ron's room and Hermione in Ginny's. She felt excited at the thought to be alone with the redhead after all the chaos and noise that had surrounded them the whole night.

"Go up first", Ginny said to Hermione. "I'll get us some juice from the kitchen".

Hermione agreed and walked up the stairs to the first floor where Ginny's bedroom was located. Ron and Harry, who had looked almost as tired as Mr. Weasley, had already disappeared into Ron's room.

Hermione opened the door to the room and took a look around. It must have been more than a year since she had last been here, but it looked just the same. A cozy bed, all Gryffindor colored, a poster of the Harpies' on the wall next to it and a small desk in front of the window. Hermione's eyes fell on a picture frame standing on the desk.

She walked over to it and discovered that it held the same picture she was still holding in her hands. A smile formed on her lips as she looked at her and Ginny. Slowly, she raised one hand to touch the photo, but a sudden noise at the door made her flinch. She turned around and faced Ginny. The smile on Hermione's face vanished in an instant as she saw what she was holding.

"Can you explain this?", Ginny asked, her voice stern, a cold expression in her eyes.

In her hand she held the Hermione's list.


	11. Oh Holy Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, but here you go. :) thanks for the support and comments so far!

Chapter 11 – Oh Holy Night

Hermione's thoughts started racing when her eyes wandered back and forth between Ginny's face and the parchment the redhead was holding in her hand.

When she arrived at the Burrow that day she had been determined to find out more information for the list, but she had completely forgotten about it, because she had been so happy to spend the day with Ginny and her friends. The parchment must have fallen out of her bag when she retrieved the presents earlier. How could she not have noticed?

Hermione wanted to hit herself in the face for being so careless and stupid. What should she say to Ginny now? How could she ever explain this to her? Frantically she tried to think of something – anything – to say, but the angry and hurt look Ginny was giving her made it impossible for Hermione to organize her thoughts.

"You made this to find out whether I like you?", Ginny finally said accusingly and she gripped the parchment tighter. Hermione just nodded, still at loss for words.

"Why didn't you just ask me?!", Ginny asked in a sharp voice which did not match the hurt expression on her face. "Why did you need this bloody list or whatever that is?! Are you that afraid I could be interested in you?! Did you have to check if I am touching you or stare at you before you reject me?! As if I was a bloody lunatic?! Yeah, but at least you got your research done, good for you!" Ginny's voice had gotten louder and more agitated with every sentence. Every word she spoke cut through Hermione's heart like the sword of Gryffindor and though it made her feel even worse, she could not break their eye contact. Worried that someone might overhear them, she cast a wandless muffliato spell at the door, a skill she had mastered perfectly over the years.

Hermione finally opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, but Ginny cut her off right away. The redhead held the parchment higher and pointed her finger at the last question 'Does Ginny have a crush on me?'.

"You didn't reach a conclusion? Must be frustrating for you, right?!", Ginny said, every word heavy with anger and hurt. "Well let me do it for you then, so you can put it on your damn list!"

"Ginny, I-", Hermione finally managed to utter, but Ginny cut her off again.

"Spare your words, Hermione! No need to talk to me if you can put it on a list, right?!" She gripped the parchment tight, wrinkles spread over its upper half and her knuckles became white.

Hermione suddenly felt dizzy and the world around her started blurring, except for Ginny who stood out clearly against the twilight in the room.

She wanted to explain. Explain that she did not think of Ginny as crazy, that she did know nothing about love yet, that she did not want to make false assumptions about Ginny, that she never meant to hurt her. But her mouth remained shut, her lips pressed together tightly, while she was fighting tears for the second time today. It was strange how the same tears could be evoked by such different emotions. She wanted to take a step towards Ginny, reach out for her hand, tell her that she was sorry and explain everything, but her limps would not move. It reminded her of second year when she had been petrified by the basilisk. Only that now felt way worse.

Ginny closed her eyes for a long second and took a deep breath, apparently organizing her thoughts. As she opened her eyes again, the anger had vanished leaving only hurt and disappointment in her expression. The youngest Weasley sighed as she let out another deep breath. "I can't believe I'm telling you like this", she finally said, shaking her head in disbelief. Her voice was quieter than before, soft even, but Hermione could not hear even the faintest trace of the warmth that it used to contain whenever the redhead spoke to her.

"So, this is it", Ginny continued and a humorless laugh escaped her lips. "Do you know how many times I have thought about this moment? How I imagined it over and over again every night before I fell asleep? Of course not, if you knew you wouldn't have made this stupid list."

Hermione averted her eyes and lowered her head, because she felt more ashamed than she had ever been in her life. She had never expected that such a small action like writing this useless list could lead to such consequences. To her, it had been a small action, but to someone else, it could mean much more. She now understood it. Yet, it had never been her intention to harm anyone, it had just been for reference… The dizziness increased, making her wish she had something to get a hold onto.

"Look at me!", Ginny demanded. Hermione rose her head and after a few quick glances she managed to restore their eye contact.

Ginny closed her eyes once more and a single tear ran over her cheek, barely visible in the dim light. Seeing her friend crying made Hermione's sight blur as well, but once again, she fought back the tears.

"I like you Hermione", Ginny finally whispered, so quietly Hermione wondered whether she really heard it. "I like you as a friend", Ginny continued. "And I like you as a woman. I like you in a way that I want to hold your hand while taking a walk around the burrow. I like you in a way where I want to feel your embrace when I am sad or lonely. I have liked you for longer than you might imagine, even though at first, I didn't know what these feelings meant. I knew you would never like me back. But I had this tiny bit of hope that somehow you would like me the way I do like you. I don't even know where this hope came from; thinking about it now makes me seem quite stupid, doesn't it?" She let out a heavy sigh and looked at the parchment still clutched in her hand. "Well, there you have your conclusion." Then she let go of the list and it fell to the floor, Hermione's sad eyes following its movement.

"G-ginny", Hermione uttered. She wanted to explain herself, but she had no idea how to start so she just said the first thing that came to her mind. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just made this list to find out whether my assumption was true or not. I thought you might be uncomfortable if I'd ask you such a thing directly, because…because I could've been wrong and then our friendship would become awkward." She wanted to say more, but even though the thoughts and emotions were chasing each other inside her head, her overall thinking was slow, almost as if paralyzed.

"You didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable?" Ginny put her hands on her hips and lowered her head, her hair hiding her face. As she looked up again, she mustered Hermione witch such an accusatory look that the young witch felt a shudder rolling over her back.

"So this situation right now is supposed to be more comfortable, you think? I thought you'd possess some more empathy, Hermione. You've changed quite a lot." The redhead's eyes wandered from Hermione's to the framed photograph showing both girls smiling happily. Ginny's gaze lingered on it for a few seconds before it found its way back to Hermione's face.

"I don't expect an answer to this question, but have you at least once thought about how I might feel about all of this? You say you were afraid of making me uncomfortable? I'd say you were afraid of feeling uncomfortable yourself, Hermione!" Another tear run over her face as she finished. With an angry gesture, she wiped it away and turned around.

"Now leave me alone", Ginny said quietly but determinedly and walked out the door.

Hermione wanted to stop her, grab her hand, but she could not do it. She was still captured in her stupor. Her body felt numb and heavy, so did her mind.

She continued to remain in that position for another one or two minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Then, slowly, she raised her right hand, which was still holding the photograph Ginny had given to her, and her eyes found her own, then Ginny's. What had happened to her?

The thought suddenly struck her mind like a lightning bolt and finally – finally! – she awoke from her stupor. Her legs gave in and she slumped to the floor, the photograph pressed to her chest. Tears started to run down her cheeks, washing away the numbness, replacing it with new thoughts and a number of realizations.

Hermione had not considered Ginny's feelings at all. She had been egoistic, scared and intrigued by the fact that Ginny might like her, but too much of a coward to just simply ask her. What had become of her? Where was the Hermione who stood up for her friends, who was brave like a Gryffindor was supposed to be, who was willing to give up her own goals when she could help a friend instead?

Now she was only trying to reach goal after goal in a job she did not even like, to find a mysterious person from a stupid prediction that might not even be true and to be professional. She was sick of acting professional!

Tears continued streaming down her face and it did not take long until she was sobbing and crying louder than she had ever done in years. The disappointment and hurt in Ginny's eyes would not leave her mind and she could not stop thinking about how stupid she had been. Ginny liked her and she had done nothing to deserve it. She had betrayed her trust and disregarded her feelings.

Hermione's body was shaken by continuous sobs, but after a while they grew weaker and less in number, so it became easier for her to think. After all Hermione Granger wouldn't be Hermione Granger if she didn't organize her thoughts on the situation.

The obvious question was: Why had she acted like this? Why hadn't she just asked Ginny? Hermione set up straight and hugged her knees, the photograph still in her hand. She thought about everything that had happened after her and Ginny had left Hogwarts.

The first realization that hit her was that she hated her job. She hated the reports, she hated her office and she hated the fact she was placed first on the overtime-work-meter. And she hated all these things more than Pansy. Hermione had convinced herself that it would get better if she just tried hard enough. That she could change something about the world she lived in. Focusing blindly on this goal, bearing and enduring day after day, had made her numb for other's feelings, even for her own.

And then she had met Ginny after quite some time and the witch had changed something inside her. The redhead had stirred Hermione's emotions. She had made Hermione reconsider the life she had been sure was the right one for her. Everything Hermione thought essential had started to crumble because of the few moments she had spent with Ginny. And that brought her to the second realization: She wanted to love and she wanted to be loved. She needed love in her life.

But that did not explain the fact why she did not just ask Ginny about her feelings. Hermione hugged her knees tighter and held the photograph a little closer to her face. She traced along Ginny's features with her index finger, trying to catch every movement the witch made. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she regarded the widely grinning redhead in the photograph.

She remembered the feeling when she met Ginny on the Quidditch pitch, the familiarity and the realization that she had missed her so much. She remembered her excitement when Ginny showed up in front of her flat and the empty feeling she was left with when they parted. She remembered a lot of things. The warmth that had spread through her body when Ginny held her hand, the brush of their cheeks against each other when they hugged, the hypnotizing power of the redheads beautiful eyes, the jealousy she felt when she imagined her with someone else, the excitement and nervousness that rose inside her when Ginny replied to Ron's and Harry's joke about the possibility of her being Hermione's 'special person'. And then she remembered the fear. The fear that Ginny might deny everything. That she felt nothing for Hermione. And with that stupid list she had wanted to make sure that her fears were ungrounded. She had wanted to proof that Ginny had a crush on her.

Hermione's eyes widened as the third realization hit her: She liked Ginny. She liked her more than she had ever liked Victor or Ron and she liked her more than only as a friend. And the only thing surprising about it was that she did not find it very surprising at all.

With newfound determination Hermione got up to her feet, wiped the dried tears from her face and placed the framed photograph next to its twin on Ginny's desk. Then she left the room to find Ginny. She had to put some things right.

It didn't take long to find the redhead. When Hermione descended the stairs, she could hear faint sobs from the living room. Quietly and surrounded by darkness, she approached the door, which was standing ajar. Hermione pushed it slightly so she could peek inside.

Her heart wrenched when she saw the young witch sitting on the armchair where they had sat next to each other just hours ago. She was pressing the Quidditch spell book Hermione had given her as a present to her chest, her body shaken by heavy sobs. The Christmas tree still bathed the room in soft and warm light which in contrast made the sight of Ginny even more painful. Christmas was supposed to be joyful, but she had ruined it for Ginny.

Hermione continued standing in front of the door for a few moments, hesitant whether to enter or not, but her rediscovered Gryffindor courage made her take the final step into the room.

Ginny looked up at Hermione, her eyes red of tears, her hair messed up as if the young witch had ruffled it repeatedly.

"I said leave me alone", Ginny mumbled weakly. She averted her eyes as soon as they met with Hermione's.

Hermione did not listen to her and proceeded into the room until she was standing right in front of the armchair. "May I sit down?", she asked carefully but determinedly.

Ginny just shook her head, stubbornly focusing on a spot over Hermione's shoulder.

"You sure?", Hermione tried again. "You were fine with it a couple of hours ago."

Ginny did not reply, but Hermione could sense that her defenses were starting to come down. She sat down next to Ginny, who shifted as far away from her as possible, but given the chair's limited width, their bodies were still touching each other. Hermione could feel the redhead tensing up. For a brief moment she considered to touch her, but then she decided that talking might be the better option at the moment.

"Ginny, please look at me", Hermione pleaded softly. But Ginny did not move. Her eyes were glued to the Christmas tree, whose light made Ginny's hair shine like polished copper. Hermione felt a big lump forming in her throat as she thought about how much she had hurt this beautiful person.

Hermione's eyes followed Ginny's and they were staring at the Christmas tree in unison, neither of them saying a single word for a while.

"I am sorry", Hermione finally said and a tear escaped the corner of her eye. It went unnoticed by Ginny. "There is so so much I have to tell you, but the first thing I want you to know is that I am thankful. I am just so thankful for having you in my life." As another tear rolled down Hermione's cheek, Ginny's head slowly began to turn in her direction.

When their eyes finally met Hermione was once more astonished about how beautiful Ginny's eyes were. The Christmas lights reflected in them made them shine even warmer than usual. But they also held sadness and anger, which reminded Hermione of the things she wanted to tell the redhead.

"I am thankful for so many things, Ginny", Hermione continued, careful not to break their eye contact. "I am thankful that you still wanted to be my friend even though I neglected our friendship for such a long time. And I am thankful that you opened my eyes and made me realize that I'm not happy with my life right now, that I need to change something. But what I am most thankful for is that you always supported me. You always believed in me and you were the only one who could tell that I wasn't feeling happy. Even I myself wasn't able to do that. You were by my side when I needed you and the times I spent with you lately reminded me of what happiness really is."

Ginny still did not say anything, but the anger in her eyes was vanishing slowly. Hermione hoped that her imagination was not playing tricks on her.

"I am sorry for so many things as well", she continued. "I am sorry that I never asked about your worries and concerns, that I didn't take your passion for Quidditch seriously enough and that I made such a foolish list behind your back. You were right, I didn't consider your feelings, my actions were selfish and sadly I only realized that now."

Hermione was not sure whether her words were reaching the redhead. She was as stubborn as Ron, so she was prepared for all kinds of reactions, from telling her to piss off to Ginny demolishing the tree. But nothing like that happened. Ginny just stared at her motionlessly, only blinking from time to time.

"You asked me why I made that list instead of asking you directly", Hermione continued. "Well, here is the answer. I was afraid." She took a few deep breaths, trying to fight her nervousness.

"What were you afraid of?"

Hermione was surprised at the sudden question. Ginny's voice was quiet, even soft and sounded nothing like the voice she had used earlier.

"I was afraid you might have no feelings for me", Hermione answered nervously. Say it! Just say it!, a voice inside her head shouted.

"Because…because I like you." Hermione held Ginny's gaze for one more second before the courage she had mustered so painstakingly left her again. She lowered her head and shoved her hands under her tights to calm herself down.

"You…like me?", Ginny asked perplexedly.

Hermione looked up again. She had to do this properly. The time where she ducked her head and tried to run from her feelings was over. She would start a new life, no matter if she found the sign or the person or whatever. And now would be the time to start it.

"I like you Ginevra Molly Weasley." Her voice was steadier and louder than before and Hermione could feel the confidence coming back. "I like you as a friend and I like you as a woman. And I like you as a seeker. I like you more than I have ever liked any of the people I have been with...by Merlin, I think I am in love with you!"

Ginny's eyes widened at her confession and Hermione could not believe what had just left her mouth. Even one day ago she would have strongly denied to like somebody – let alone Ginny of all people! – but now she knew that every word was true.

"So you don't think I am weird?", Ginny asked, the expression on her face still puzzled.

Hermione nodded. "Of course I don't think that, actually I think you are wonderful! You're brilliant, you're the best seeker in the league and on top of that the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Your kind and caring, honest and funny and so much more. Some people might think you are weird, but to me, you are just perfect."

Tears started rolling down Ginny's face and suddenly, all the tension from her body was gone. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed even louder than she had just a while ago. Hermione was surprised at the sudden outburst. Had she said something wrong?

Cautiously Hermione raised her hand and lightly patted the redhead's back. After a while she slung both arms around her and held her tightly. Ginny continued to cry for a few minutes more while Hermione held her and stroked her hair. She felt nervous since she did not know what Ginny's reaction meant, but at the same time she felt relaxed, because it felt so nice and warm to hold Ginny in her arms, to feel the texture of her hair and to inhale her scent.

Finally, the sobs subsided and Ginny wiped her face. Hermione drew her wand, summoned a tissue and handed it to the redhead. Ginny took it and blew her nose noisily, which made Hermione smile.

"Are you alright?", Hermione asked worriedly.

Ginny raised her head and looked at Hermione, her eyes even redder and puffier than before. She still looked beautiful.

"It's just-", Ginny started to say but was interrupted by a hiccup coming up her throat.

"I – never expected – you would - like me", she said. "I thought – you would reject me- and – and – I don't know what – to say."

"You don't have to say anything right now", Hermione replied and resumed stroking the redhead's back. "How about we just call it a day and go to sleep? You must be exhausted."

Ginny silently nodded and managed to form a weak smile. "You're - right. Let's – let's go", she said, still hiccuping, and got up from the armchair. "Nox." With a quick movement of her wand she turned off the Christmas lights on the tree leaving both women in complete darkness.

They walked up the stairs to Ginny's bedroom in silence, each woman immersed in their own thoughts. When they entered the room, Ginny crawled into her bed and Hermione awkwardly stopped in the middle of the room. She glanced over to Ginny's bed and then to the one Mrs. Weasley had prepared for her. Finally, she slipped into her own bed.

As she lay there and stared into the darkness above her head she could feel her heart still racing, and so were her thoughts. Ginny had confessed her feelings for Hermione. Hermione had confessed her feelings for Ginny. What did that mean? Were they girlfriends now? Hermione pulled the blanket over her head in frustration. She knew nothing about dating, let alone love. And how would Ron and Harry react if they found out? What about Ginny's parents?

She did not want to think about it at the moment. Maybe she should just be happy for now? But she still had no clue whether Ginny had forgiven her about the list issue or not.

Hermione could hear Ginny stir in her bed. She turned and focused on the spot where she assumed Ginny's face.

"Hermione?", Ginny asked softly.

"Mh-mh", Hermione replied alertly.

"I'm still angry about the list." Hermione's heart sunk and she clung her hands into the sheets. "You have every right to be angry", she answered weakly.

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden question. Her heartbeat doubled in less than a second. A date with Ginny? "Y-yes I do", she uttered blankly. "But didn't you just say you were still angry with me?"

"I am, but that doesn't mean we cannot go on a date, right?", Ginny replied and some of her usual mischief had found its way back into her voice. "So, goodnight then."

"G-goodnight", Hermione said, still confused.


	12. The Best of Both Worlds

Chapter 12 – The Best of Both Worlds

When Hermione opened her eyes the next morning, she felt strangely happy and excited. It took her a few seconds before she realized that everything that had happened last night had not been a dream. It hadn't been a dream, right? Her eyes darted to Ginny's bed, but there was no Ginny, only slightly ruffled red and golden Gryffindor sheets. Maybe everything had been just a dream after all? However, when she sleepily rubbed her eyes and found them puffy and overly sensitive she was left with no doubt that everything had really happened as she remembered it.

Ginny had confessed her feelings to Hermione and Hermione had realized that she harbored similar feelings for the redhead as well. It was so easy, yet so complicated. Hermione was torn between happiness and excitement on the one hand and fear on the other. She had no idea how she was supposed to act from now on, no idea how to tell her friends about it and no idea if she would be able to finally let herself fall in love completely.

What if it wouldn't work out in the end? What if they found out that their feelings turned out to be falsely interpreted friendship? How would Ron and Harry react? Oh God, what about Mrs. Weasley?! And what if Ginny was still angry about the list? As so often lately, Hermione had no idea. And having no idea was something she really hated.

But then she thought of Ginny and only Ginny. Ginny's warmly shining eyes. Her elegantly bowed nose. The freckles scattered around it. Her pink lips curved into a smile. The thought of the redhead ignited a warmth in her chest that quickly spread through her body and chased away the doubts and worries that had haunted her until a moment ago, as if the thought was a Patronus working its magic from the inside.

Slowly, a smile appeared on Hermione's lips, growing into a grin and then into a laugh. All of a sudden, she felt full of energy, braveness and optimism. Ginny liked her. She liked Ginny. They would go on a date. It was so simple! She kept grinning while she kicked the blanked in pure joy.

Suddenly, Hermione heard someone snicker from the door. Startled, she jerked into an upright position and turned her head towards the noise. The immediate blush that spread on her face probably resembled the hair color of the woman she found in front of her.

"Breakfast's ready", Ginny announced with an amused grin on her face.

Hermione just stared at her dumbfoundedly. How embarrassing! She behaved like a teenager in love for the first time! Well…it was true after all. Being in love for the first time. At least it seemed like that. Was that the kind of being in love people talked about? Waking up confused, thinking about the other and doing embarrassing things you usually did not do?

"Hermione, are you alright?", Ginny asked, a slightly concerned expression on her face, which made Hermione snap back into reality. Apparently, she had just stared into space for a while.

"Uhm, yes…yes", Hermione finally said throatily. "I'll be downstairs in a minute."

"Okay, great", Ginny replied and left the room.

Hermione let herself fall back into the bed and buried her face in her hands. She wished they had taught something like Love and Dating through the Ages at Hogwarts.

Five minutes later Hermione found herself sitting at the long table in the Weasley's kitchen, munching on fried eggs and sausages while listening to Mrs. Weasley expressing her concerns about Harry becoming an Auror over and over again. Even though it had been three years since he had started the training and was about to finish it in a couple of months, Mrs. Weasley would never give up on trying to talk him out of it.

"-and the dangers! What if you get hit by an unforgivable curse again?", Mrs. Weasley went on as she placed a stack of pancakes on Harry's plate with a quick movement of her wand. "Have some too", she said to Hermione, but did not repeat the action for her. Hermione did not mind anymore. She had grown used to the fact that among Ron's friends, Harry would always be Mrs. Weasley's favorite. She mentally sighed while slipping one of the pancakes on her plate.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley", Harry tried to convince her for the zillionths time since he had started his Auror career. "It only happened once and I was inexperienced then. Besides, the Cruciatus lasted for only a few seconds and you know that I experienced way worse when I fought Voldemort".

"Yeah Mum, he was the Chosen One after all", Ron chimed in.

"I told you to stop calling me that", Harry grunted.

"Molly dear, can't you just leave him alone for now? It's Christmas Day for Merlin's sake!", Mr. Weasley pleaded. He, his sons and daughter, Fleur and Angelina had not spoken a single word since breakfast had begun. They all looked tired and worn out by Mrs. Weasleys continuous rant.

"But Arthur, I am just concerned about the boy!", she protested.

"I'm not a boy anymore", Harry mumbled into his pancake, but Mrs. Weasley ignored him.

"And what about his future wife and children?", Mrs. Weasley continued. "They will worry to death about him!"

"Ehrm I don't really have plans to marry and have children at the moment", Harry replied, a trace of annoyance in his voice. Hermione wondered how he was still able to listen to the same rant year after year without exploding or storming out of the room. All he ever did was showing a little annoyance and a frown which usually went unnoticed by Mrs. Weasley.

"But certainly, you want to have a family in the future", Mrs. Weasley argued, casting a meaningful glance at Ginny. Hermione's eyes narrowed and she felt a sting in her chest as she started to comprehend what Mrs. Weasley was thinking. She wanted to protest, declare that Ginny was not Harry's anymore, that she belonged with her now, but she could not do that. Not now and not here.

Hermione noticed Ginny's sudden change in expression as she too, understood her mother's looks. She looked seriously angry and upset, which made Hermione feel happy but concerned at the same time. A full-scale fight between Mrs. Weasley and Ginny could ruin the entire Christmas day.

However, before Ginny could make her argument, unexpected help was provided.

"I zink 'Arry ees very 'appy wiz the work 'e is doing", Fleur spoke up. Bill, who was seated next to his wife, nodded in agreement. "Eesn't being 'appy the most eemportant zing een life? If 'ee is 'appy, you should be 'appy for 'im!" She looked at Mrs. Weasley expectantly and Bill continued bobbing his head. Fred showed her a thumps up and Mr. Weasley smiled approvingly.

Mrs. Weasley seemed seriously taken aback and it was the first time in years that Hermione had seen her rendered speechless. The middle-aged woman gulped and cleared her throat. "Well, I guess you're right, dear", she eventually said.

"And stop expecting Harry to get married with Ginny, Mum", Charlie spoke up. "Let them move on. My little sister has made her decision and we should respect that." He winked at his sister, who smiled at him thankfully. The anger in her eyes had dissolved.

Mrs. Weasley silently nodded while regarding her daughter. Ginny took her mother's hand and squeezed it slightly. Mrs. Weasley smiled at her tentatively and then resumed to place food on people's plates in silence.

Hermione's eyes found Ginny's and they exchanged shy smiles. The sting in her chest was gone and all she could feel was excitement for what the future might be holding for them. She wanted to get lost in those warm brown eyes, but she reminded herself that she was sitting at a kitchen table full of people, so she averted her gaze after a few glorious seconds. She let her eyes wander over to Ron who was sitting next to Ginny. Hermione startled when she noticed him staring at her with narrowed eyes. Was he assuming something? No, impossible, after all Ron still had the emotional range of a teaspoon, as she had stated so accurately a decade ago.

Hermione smiled at him innocently and quickly averted her eyes.

Luckily, the remainder of the breakfast went by without any fights or curses. Once in a while, Hermione would cast a glance or a smile at Ginny, careful to not to do it when Ron was looking in her direction. Although she doubted that he was being suspicious of them, she wanted to make sure.

When breakfast was over, she said her goodbye to everyone, because she had promised her parents to spend Christmas day with them at their house. Ron, Harry and Ginny accompanied her outside the Burrow. The air was cold and stung in Hermione's face, which made her shiver despite the thick coat she was wearing.

"See you soon hopefully", Harry said and hugged her first.

"Come over to our shop sometime soon", Ron said and hugged her as well. Hermione felt a little sorry that she had not told him about Ginny and her yet, but she knew that it would be way too early. She and Ginny weren't a couple nor just friends and Hermione needed to wrap her head around that first. She only hoped that he would understand by the time she would be ready to tell him. So instead she hugged him a little tighter and longer than she usually did.

"Don't let Sophie see that", Harry said and grinned.

"Cut it out, mate", Ron replied playfully and boxed his arm.

Then Hermione turned to Ginny, who smiled at her warmly. Reluctantly at first, Hermione took a step forwards and hugged the redhead. The moment their bodies were embracing each other it felt as if someone had thrown a blanket over them, which blocked the cold completely. The feeling was so different from what she felt when hugging the boys. Or anyone else for that matter. It was as if Ginny and her were the only ones around.

"I'll miss you", Ginny whispered into Hermione's ear, so that only she could hear it. Hermione gulped and felt heat crawling into her cheeks. If Ginny had said those words only a few days ago, she would have just thought of it as something friends said to each other casually, now, however, those words carried much more meaning.

"I'll miss you too", Hermione whispered back, knowing that she would from the moment she disapparated from here. She regretted that they had spent the few chances of being alone with each other on fighting.

The feeling of Ginny's hand slipping something into her own made her snap out of her thoughts. She closed her fist around it as Ginny retreated.

"See you soon", the redhead said and winked, which made Hermione blush a little.

It was the day before New Year's Eve, when Hermione stood in front of her small closet scanning the contents, trying to decide what to wear for her first date with Ginny. The usually neatly made bed was covered in a variety of sweaters, cardigans, hoodies and pants. In one corner, 'Wooing Witches – The Ultimate Guidebook [Lesbian Edition]' was lying opened, showing the heading 'Tips for the 1st Date – Dos and Don'ts. The subheadings were covered by a small piece of parchment, whose corners were already tattered because Hermione had held it in her hands too often.

"Don't forget about our date. Since I am still angry, you decide what to do and where. Impress me and I won't be angry anymore. – Ginny –" was written on it in Ginny's pretty, but slightly clumsy handwriting. The dot over every 'i' was formed like a heart, which had Hermione's heart pounding every time she read the note.

The days after Christmas had passed unbearably slowly. Hermione had returned to work right after Christmas, even though most colleagues had taken the days until New Year's off. Unfortunately, Pansy hadn't. Neither of them had said a word to the other, not even a 'hello' was exchanged. Talking to Pansy would only make Hermione think about the prediction, which she really didn't want to think about at the moment. She had more important things to do. Like re-reading Ginny's note for the hundred and second time. Or missing Ginny. Or planing a date. If fighting Voldemort had been the hardest thing she ever did, planing a date with Ginny came close in second.

What the hell did people do on dates? And more importantly, how could she impress Ginny? These questions had haunted Hermione the whole week, making her unable to focus on work. But nothing special had happened there anyways, just the usual boring stuff, so Hermione had not minded much. Only yesterday she had finally come up with some ideas for her and Ginny's first date.

But as soon as the question of what to do was answered, the next one popped up in her head. What did people wear for a date?

Hermione wished she had thought about the question earlier as she skimmed through the sparse selection of clothes in her cupboard. She barely had shopped for clothes over the last few years, so wardrobe-wise she was still stuck in her later years of Hogwarts. Jeans and a hoodie or pullover was all she'd ever wear, even at work. As long as you were not a supervisor, people at the ministry dressed quite casual and Hermione had always considered quality of one's work as more important than what someone wore. But now she regretted that she had never looked for something more mature and pretty.

Hermione's eyes fell on the dress she had worn to the Yule Ball in forth year. She shook her head at the thought. She would be overdressed and she had outgrown the dress around her chest and shoulders anyways.

She continued rummaging in the closet and eventually discovered a plain grey A-line skirt at the back. She had bought it after her first month of working, when she had been convinced that she would get promoted soon. What a foolish thought. No wonder she had forgotten about the skirt's existence.

She pulled the cloth out of the closet and placed it on a space of her bed that was not covered in clothes yet. Eventually she found some black stockings she could combine with the skirt.

About one hour later, Hermione critically eyed herself in the mirror that was decorating a large part of the wall next to the entrance door to her flat. The skirt fit nicely and she had combined it with a purple cardigan and a simple black t-shirt. Her outfit looked as plain as it could get, but it was the best she could do at the moment. At least she had curled her hair nicely and put a charm on it which made it shimmer a little more than usual. She had also put on some mascara and a light eye shadow, which was basically all makeup she possessed. She seriously needed to do some shopping soon.

A quick glance on the clock let her know that it was five to three. Quickly, she threw on her coat, grabbed the extendable bag and slipped into her sneakers. Unfortunately, she didn't poses any heeled shoes or flats, which would have worked way better with the skirt.

She hurried out of her building and was about to disapparate, when she suddenly hesitated. Why was she feeling so incredibly nervous? Her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating more than they had the day before the N.E. . She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself down a little. She reached in her pockets and grabbed her wand with one and Ginny's note with her other hand. She could do it. Let's go for it, she thought and finally apparated into Diagon Alley.

Hermione reappeared close to the wizard side of the Leaky Cauldron, where she had agreed to meet with Ginny. She took a look around, but Ginny was nowhere to be seen. She glanced at her watch. One minute to three. No need to worry, yet.

She did not need to wait long. A few moments later the typical apparition noise let her know that Ginny had arrived.

"Hermione! Good to see you", Ginny greeted her, a wide grin on her face. Hermione felt the heat rush into her head as she met the other woman's eyes, who obviously had put some effort to look even more beautiful today than she usually did. Ginny wore tight black jeans and a navy-blue coat, which she must have bought from the money she made as a pro-Quidditch player, because it looked quite expensive. Her hair looked neat and she had put a few strands of it into a braid which framed her face nicely. Ginny, too, had put on some light make up and again, she wore the white camellia earrings. Hermione smiled as she noticed the red and golden Gryffindor scarf, Ginny had slung around her neck.

Hermione made a step forward, since she wanted to hug the redhead, but she suddenly felt shy and the braveness she had mustered up left her. Ginny seemed to experience the same problem and a short, but awkward silence fell over them.

"Uhm…should we get going maybe?", Hermione asked insecurely. She felt as if it was her first day of elementary school again. Not knowing the rules, not knowing what to do.

"Okay, let's go", Ginny replied and Hermione noticed that her cheeks hat turned a little red. Ginny really was cute. If it weren't for her own nervousness she would have made a remark about that.

"So, where are we going today?", Ginny asked curiously as they walked side by side along Diagon Alley. She was walking close to Hermione, but not close enough for them to touch. It made Hermione less nervous, but she also felt a little disappointed. She wondered what it would feel like to hold Ginny's hand and have her fingers intertwined with the redhead's.

"It's a surprise, but you're going to find out soon. It's really close from here", Hermione explained. "It's a place I reckoned you'd like and where I also can learn lots of things."

Ginny giggled at that. "Oh Hermione, that sounds just like you."

Hermione shot her a smile and then slowed her pace. "Here we are", she said and gestured towards the shop.

Ginny fell speechless for a few seconds before she looked at Hermione in awe. "Blimey, Hermione! Quality Quidditch Supplies?! You must be kidding me! First, you give me the book and now you bring me here?! I'm indeed impressed."

Hermione could see Ginny's eyes lighting up and her excitement surely was contagious. Even though Hermione had used to avoid the shop, she suddenly could not wait to enter.

"You're impressed? So you're not angry with me anymore?", Hermione asked hopefully.

"No, still angry", Ginny replied playfully.

"Wait, but you said-", Hermione exclaimed, but Ginny had already dashed off towards the Quidditch shop. Hermione shook her head in bewilderment, but smiled.

They spent over an hour in the shop and it was more interesting than Hermione had expected. Ginny showed her around, explained about the newest trends in Quidditch, the new Firebolt, which she was dying to buy, but unfortunately the Harpies would not get new broomsticks until next summer. Ginny had also brought the book Hermione had made for her and together they bought a few items needed for some of the spells and Hermione explained some details to Ginny, who listened eagerly. They laughed a lot, which made them loosen up and soon the initial tension that had stood like a wall between them was gone.

They were standing in front of the Quidditch gloves as Hermione explained to Ginny the charm she had invented to make the gloves more anti-skid, so that the snitch could not easily escape one's grip after catching it.

"But isn't that against the rules?", Ginny asked doubtfully while she examined a set of gloves. "The spell is really useful and I will surely try it in training, but I don't think it is allowed in league matches."

"Don't worry about that. I checked all available rule books and even visited the Department of Magical Games and Sports just to make sure. As long as they don't create a new rule it will be just fine."

"Wow, Hermione, you really put a lot of effort in making this book, didn't you?", Ginny said appreciatively. "I suddenly feel way more confident about the match next week thanks to all of your help. Thank you so much." Ginny rested her hand on Hermione's lower arm and smiled at her thankfully. A tingling sensation spread at the spot where Ginny's hand was, even though she could barely feel the touch through her thick coat.

"Nah, it wasn't that much effort, really", Hermione replied and dismissed Ginny's assumption with a wave of her hand. Of course, she did not tell her that she had an extremely busy week including two almost sleepless nights in order to finish the book in time.

Ginny took another pair of gloves out of the shelf and they proceeded to the checkout, each of them holding a basket full of Quidditch supplies. Most things were for Ginny, but the redhead had also insisted that Hermione bought a green and golden striped Holyhead Harpies scarf and a poster of the Harpies' seeker, who was, of course, no other than Ginny herself. "Put that on one of your empty walls", Ginny had said happily.

Just as they were about to put their baskets on the counter a voice behind them called: "Ginny!"

The women turned around and Hermione saw a small woman with Asian features smiling at Ginny.

"Oh, hello Sinae, I thought you went to visit your parents over the holidays?", Ginny said and smiled at the woman. "By the way, this is Hermione my…friend", she said. Hermione noticed the slight hesitation when she said 'friend' and she felt a small pinch in her chest. Still, officially they were friends, so Ginny's choice of words was correct. "Hermione, this is Sinae Kim, she plays Beater for the Harpies."

The Beater offered Hermione her hand and Hermione shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"You must be the legendary Hermione Granger then?", Sinae said and Hermione wondered where she was from, because her slight accent sounded unfamiliar. "I've heard all of your stories. Even my parents know you and they live in Korea." Aha Korea it was.

Then Sinae turned towards Ginny and explained: "I decided to come back early to get some individual training. The upcoming match will be a tough one and I feel like I am still lacking here and there."

"No, you're really good, especially last training? It was amazing", Ginny said reassuringly.

"You're too nice Ginny", Sinae said and laughed. "But I should get going, sorry to interrupt your date with your friend." She nodded towards Hermione and waved at Ginny. Her gaze lingered on the redhead for a second longer than necessary, which made Hermione frown. She would have to keep an eye on this person.

They paid for their articles and Hermione put all of their shopping into her extendable back, then they left the shop. "Thank you so much for coming here with me, Hermione. It was really fun wasn't it? I could see your eyes light up when you saw my poster", Ginny said mockingly.

"No comment", Hermione said pretending to be serious, but seeing the redhead smile at her like that she could not help but to beam back at her.

"So where do we go now?", Ginny asked.

"Well I thought, we could visit Madam Puddifoot's and have a cup of tea?", Hermione suggested. It was the only place she knew that would be suitable for a date, since the Leaky Cauldron as well as Three Broomsticks were not exactly romantic. Madam Puddiffot's was also listed as one of the recommendations in 'Wooing Witches'.

"Seriously?", Ginny giggled.

"I-it's the only place I know, which is not shabby or overcrowded…", Hermione tried to explain.

Ginny tilted her head while she seemed to mull over something. "I know something better", she finally said. "Thank you for thinking so carefully about the place, but as you know I used to go there with my exes on our Hogsmeade weekends and I must admit that the place is kind of tacky. Today is too important to me to spend it at a place like that."

"Sorry, I don't know much about dates and stuff like that", Hermione said insecurely and trained her eyes on a small stone lying on the ground.

"It's fine, Hermione", Ginny laughed. Then she held her arm out for Hermione. Hermione grabbed it and smiled at the sight of their linked arms.

"Ready to go?", Ginny asked.

"Y-", Hermione started to say, but Ginny had already initiated the side along apparition.

"Where are we?", Hermione asked when the unpleasant sensation of apparition ended. She took a look around and all she saw were a few huge trash barrels.

"We are near King's Cross station", Ginny explained. "There is a Muggle café I want to take you."

"A Muggle café? Wow, you never fail to surprise me", Hermione laughed.

"You're a Muggle-born after all. I reckoned you'd enjoy coming to a Muggle place once in a while. And also, it's really interesting for someone like me, who doesn't know the Muggle world well", Ginny said a little sheepishly.

Hermione smiled happily at the redhead, because she had considered Hermione and her background more than Ron had ever done during their relationship.

Ginny led the way from behind the trash barrels to a small café which was located only a few dozens of meters from where they had apparated. They entered and Hermione immediately liked it. The place was small but tidy, the interior vintage but not too conservative. Some dried flowers hung from the ceiling and framed vintage photographs plastered the walls. A white circular staircase led to the upper floor. A delicious smell of coffee mixed with fresh bakery products would have made Hermione smile like a fool if it wasn't for one problem. The place was bursting at the seams. All the tables were occupied, there was a long line at the take out counter and the disappointed look on the faces of those who descended from the stairs told Hermione that there were no seats left on the second floor either.

Ginny looked shocked and disappointed when she looked around with wide eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Hermione", she uttered. "When I came here last time the place was almost empty…"

"You've been here before?", Hermione asked.

"Yes, with Sinae, the beater we met earlier. We were literally the only ones here", Ginny replied.

The beater's mention irritated Hermione somewhat but she decided to ignore it for now. "When exactly did you come here?"

"A few weeks ago, before Quidditch training", Ginny replied. "It was a Monday morning."

Hermione laughed. Ginny did not know much about the Muggle world yet, she realized. "Of course there is no one here on a Monday morning, but today is Saturday and it's the last weekend of the year, one of the Muggle's favorite times to go out and meet their friends or families."

"Oh", Ginny said and looked utterly embarrassed. "I am such an idiot…Come on, let's go to Hogsmeade."

She was about to turn around, but Hermione stopped her. "It's okay Ginny, you're not an idiot", Hermione said and smiled at her encouragingly. "I really like this place and the coffee smells delicious."

"But there are no seats", Ginny remarked.

"No problem, I know just the right spells for that", Hermione replied with a wink, which made Ginny blush.

She led them up the stairs and quickly scanned the upper floor. Her eyes were drawn to a small table standing in one of the more secluded corners of the café. As expected, the table was already occupied. A young man and woman were holding hands and throwing each other lovey-dovey looks. Usually, Hermione would have frowned at their behavior, but now she wished nothing more than doing the same with Ginny.

She shook off the thought and tried to concentrate on the spells while they walked towards the table. She reached into her extendable bag and clutched her wand. One of the many advantages of that bag was that it allowed her to use her wand without pulling it out so that she could perform magic without being seen. She muttered a few spells and suddenly it was only Ginny, her and the table. Even the noise of talking and laughing was not audible anymore.

"How did you do that?", Ginny asked in astonishment.

"Sit down", Hermione said before she explained: "Just a couple of basic spells. A few disillusionment charms, a muffliato and a reversed one to blend out the noise and an enlargement spell for the table. We're actually sitting on the same table with the couple, but to them it looks like we're sitting three feet away. Making us invisible in front of the muggles could've been too dangerous."

Ginny stared at Hermione incredulously. "There is a reversed muffliato?"

"I invented it", Hermione replied proudly. "I sometimes used it when my colleagues were too loud and I needed to concentrate."

"That's incredible, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed. "You should do something with that talent of yours."

"Let's not talk about it now", Hermione said. "It's really nothing special. So, what would you like to drink?"

Ginny let her know and Hermione got up from the table to place their orders. As she returned a few minutes later she noticed the couple next to them exchanging kisses and she hastily averted her eyes. The image of Ginny's face only an inch away from her own, her lips slightly parted, her eyes closed, flashed through Hermione's mind. If it wasn't for the tray she was holding she would've slapped herself in the face to get rid of the fantasy.

Hermione hurried over to Ginny and placed the tray on their table. Hopefully, Ginny would not notice the redness on her cheeks.

"Looks delicious", Ginny said and licked over her lips. The redness increased.

Hermione just smiled not able to say a word, because she was occupied with fighting the images of kissing Ginny that were bombarding her from all sides.

But it did indeed look delicious. Hermione had gotten a caramel latte for Ginny, a mint latte for herself and a piece of earl grey cake for them to share.

Just when Hermione was about to pick up her fork Ginny suddenly asked: "Do you want to kiss me?"


	13. Popping the Question

Chapter 13 – Popping the Question

"W-What?", Hermione stuttered in shock. Had Ginny really just asked her whether she would like to kiss her?

"I asked if you would like to try my coffee", Ginny said in amusement.

"Oh, yeah s-sure", Hermione replied. She must have misheard. If the couple next to them only would stop kissing already, then she would not be that distracted!

"Just kidding, I actually asked you whether you would like to kiss me", Ginny said and grinned.

Hermione was glad that she had not tried the cake yet or else she would have choked on it. Her mouth snapped open and close a few times but she could not come up with any reply.

"Sorry, teasing you is just so much fun", Ginny laughed. "I noticed you glancing at them-", she made a movement wither her head in the couple's direction, "all the time and you trying to hide your blush did not really work out."

Hermione laughed nervously, still unable to say something. Instead she raised the mint latte to her lips and hastily took a sip.

"I want to kiss you", Ginny suddenly said.

This time, Hermione did choke and it took her almost a minute to stop coughing.

"Hermione, are you okay?", Ginny asked in concern and reached over to pat Hermione's back. "I'm sorry, I just meant that I want to kiss you like, in general, not now. Well, actually now would also be nice, but I heard that muggles are still pretty conservative about that and here might not be the best place to do it and- I'm sorry I should stop talking, shouldn't I?", Ginny asked as Hermione's coughing only increased. Hermione nodded and let out a final cough before she was able to regain her composure.

She cleared her throat once more and looked at Ginny. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, ask whatever you want", Ginny replied.

"Since when did you like me?", Hermione asked. She had wondered about it since the moment Ginny confessed to her.

Ginny bit her lower lip and mulled over the question for a few moments. "I think it started in our last year at Hogwarts", she eventually said.

"Really? That long?", Hermione asked in surprise. She had not noticed anything then.

Ginny nodded thoughtfully. "Yes. Since Harry and Ron where not around we had lots of time to really get to know each other and the more I got to know about you the more my interest and eventually my…attraction to you grew. I even considered to confess to you on our graduation day, but I was too afraid of my own feelings. I was still with Harry and I really, really liked him. I thought my feelings for you would stop once we left school." She sighed and looked at Hermione earnestly. "But it didn't. The longer I didn't see you the more I missed you. At the same time my feelings for Harry turned from something that hadn't been quite love to pure friendship. You know the breakup story. I tried to reach out to you after, that's why I sent you all those owls. But you refused my requests to meet so often, I thought you had no interest in me. Not even as a friend." Ginny hung her head and Hermione once more felt the urge to slap herself for putting her work above everything else in her life.

"I never expected that you'd like me back", Ginny whispered. "But strangely, the hope never died."

"Why is that?", Hermione asked curiously.

Ginny shrugged. "Mostly the power of my imagination, I guess. I saw meaning in everything you did or said, even though I probably over-interpreted everything." She took a sip from her coffee. "How about you?", she asked as she put the cup back on the saucer. "Since when have you liked me?"

Hermione had thought about the exact same question for days after she had admitted her feelings for Ginny. It had taken her some time and sleepless nights. "The moment I realized that I liked you was when you saved my life on the Quidditch pitch", she explained. "But I think I started developing feelings for you during sixth year when we did the DA."

"Wait what?! That was ages ago!", Ginny exclaimed in surprise.

"Yup. I had all the drama going on with Ron, because strangely I was thinking that I was supposed to like him. I didn't realize it then, but I think I actually liked you. I tried to be with Ron to make me like him, as weird as it sounds. And I was moody not because I was jealous of Lavender, but actually I was jealous of Dean and then Harry. Trying to convince myself that I had to be jealous of Lavender made me even more unbalanced emotionally." Hermione laughed humorlessly as she thought of those times.

"After graduation, I tried to focus on work so I could forget about all of it. As you know that's also the time when I broke up with Ron. In the end I never managed to convince myself that I loved him." Now it was Hermione's turn to hang her head.

Suddenly she felt Ginny's warm hand in hers and it strangely did not surprise her. She raised her head and looked right at Ginny. "I am so sorry it took me until last week to admit my feelings for you."

"Don't be sorry", Ginny replied softly. "If I had confessed to you earlier we might be past this stage for years now." Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Ginny laid her index finger on Hermione's lips. "But I don't want it to be any different. I like the way things are now".

Hermione smiled and glanced at their intervened hands on the table. The sight made her feel all fuzzy inside. What a strange yet nice feeling.

"Now let me ask you something else", Ginny said. The redhead nervously tugged on her Gryffindor scarf and Hermione felt her hand getting a little sweaty. Ginny cleared her throat and squeezed Hermione's hand lightly.

"Since I am officially not angry about the list anymore-"

"You're not?!", Hermione asked happily.

Ginny smiled in amusement at the other woman's reaction. "No, I am not. You apologized and I accepted your apology. But please just come talk to me from now on, okay?". Hermione nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, since we sorted that out", Ginny continued. "Hermione Jean Granger, most brilliant and beautiful witch of our time, do you officially want to become my girlfriend?" She looked at Hermione expectantly and Hermione could feel the redhead's fast heartbeat pulsating in her palm. It was even faster than her own. It was adorable how Ginny was so nervous when the answer was obvious.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, most talented and attractive seeker of our time", she began and smiled at Ginny. "It would be an honor to be your girlfriend."

"So the answer is yes, isn't it?", Ginny asked nervously.

"Of course, it is yes, silly", Hermione replied playfully.

Ginny let go of Hermione's hand and instead cupped her face. The images of kissing Ginny flashed through Hermione's mind more vividly than ever before.

"I promise I'll do everything to make you happy", Ginny said with a smile. Maybe it was due to the light, but it seemed as if she was glowing.

Hermione gulped and closed her eyes for a second. A single tear rolled down her cheek before it was quickly wiped away by Ginny's thump. "What's wrong?", the redhead asked concernedly.

Hermione shook her head. "Nothing. I am just so happy", she said quietly.

The two women sat in silence for a minute or so, just enjoying the other's company before an unpleasant thought crossed Hermione's mind.

"Uhm…", she said hesitantly.

"What is it?", Ginny asked.

"What are we going to do about Ron and Harry?", Hermione asked. "I am not sure about Harry, but Ron won't be too happy about this development. He might lose it completely." Just thinking about telling Ron made her feel nauseated already. If she interpreted Ginny's expression correctly, the redhead was fearing the same.

"I really don't know", Ginny said and sighed. "Harry might be okay with it, I'm not sure though. But Ron will be furious for sure. Even though he's dating Sophie now, he will not be happy about the fact that his little sister is dating his ex-girlfriend. No brother would."

"You're right", Hermione said. "No matter how much I think about it, I don't see any possibility for him to react, let's say, nicely to the news of us being…a couple." Although Hermione was concerned about their best friends' reaction, she smiled as she said this. It felt unfamiliar but nice to call her and Ginny a couple.

"Let's just not think about it now", Ginny said. "I don't want to ruin our date by talking about them."

Hermione nodded. Ginny was right, but someday they would have to think about how they were going to tell Ron and Harry about it.

"I want to be open about our relationship, I really do, but I didn't even tell my mum that I like girls yet", Ginny continued. "I guess I should talk to her about it soon…I don't want to have secrets and I'm sick of pretending that there's no one I fancy."

"Will she be okay?", Hermione asked worriedly. She knew that Ginny's mother had still not given up on her daughter ending up with Harry.

"I doubt it", Ginny replied with hanging shoulders. "You know my mum, she's rather conservative when it comes to family…and the way she keeps asking me about Harry- I really can't stand it. Usually I just tell her that I am not interested in anyone right now, but sometimes I'm so exhausted I don't say anything and just let her talk. There were times when I wanted to scream at her that I like girls…that I want to be with you, Hermione. But I could never bring myself to do it. I didn't even tell Bill, even though I trust him like no one else. I'm just so afraid that…that they might reject me, you know?" Ginny had spoken quickly and without breathing, it seemed as if this was the first time she had ever spoken about her fears. The redhead quickly trained her eyes on her caramel latte but Hermione had already seen the tears welling up in them.

"Ginny", she began to speak, but words had left her. Judging from Ginny's openness about the subject in front of Neville and Luna and her bold behavior in front of Harry and Ron, Hermione had assumed that the redhead wasn't afraid of being who she was in front of her family as well. She had thought that Ginny would handle the coming-out, as the Muggles called it, with the same ease as catching a snitch.

"Don't worry, it will be fine eventually", Hermione finally said. She reached out and stroked Ginny's hair tenderly. "They might need time, but they won't reject you. They love you way too much." Her hand wandered to Ginny's chin and she lifted it slowly so that Ginny would look at her. She smiled reassuringly.

"Thanks", Ginny replied and smiled back at her hesitantly. "What about your parents? Are you going to tell them?"

"Yes, maybe not now, but I want to tell them sooner or later. They should be fine with it", Hermione replied. She was sure that her parents wouldn't mind her dating a girl at all. They had already accepted the fact that she was a witch, so her being lesbian, bi or whatever would not really shock them anymore. She refrained from telling Ginny this, though. It would only make the redhead's situation seem worse.

"Come on, don't think about it now and have some cake, it's delicious, isn't it?", Hermione said in an attempt to cheer her up. And then she did something she had never done before, because it had seemed too cheesy to her. She picked up some of the cake with her fork and brought it to Ginny's mouth. The latter stared at her surprised before she opened her lips to eat it. Significantly more cheerfully she munched on the cake.

Satisfied with her reaction, Hermione leaned back into her chair and had a sip of her mint latte which wasn't even lukewarm anymore. But she didn't care. Ginny was the only thing that mattered to her at that moment.

They moved on to talk about the upcoming Quidditch game and Hermione had to reassure the redhead at least three times that she would really attend the game. She had to promise to wear Luna's spare fan robe and the merchandise they had purchased at the Quidditch shop earlier.

After a while – it had become dark outside – they got up and left the café, because Ginny had promised Mrs. Weasley that she would be home for dinner. Hermione felt disappointed that the hours had passed that quickly and Ginny had complained all the way up to the trash barrels about her mother. Hermione however urged her to hurry up, since she didn't want Mrs. Weasley to think Ginny was late because of Hermione. She would have to make a good impression from now on.

"I had a great time today, thank you so much", Hermione said once they had disappeared behind the trash barrels.

Ginny grinned happily. "I cannot believe you're my girlfriend now", she said. "It feels like a dream, seriously. I probably won't believe it when I wake up tomorrow."

"Wait", Hermione said and began to rummage in her bag. First, she handed Ginny the stuff she had bought at Quality Quidditch Supplies then she pulled out a roll of parchment and a quill. She ripped a small piece from the parchment and carefully wrote: "I really am your girlfriend. – Hermione –". The dot over every i was a heart. She couldn't believe her cheesiness, but she knew it would make Ginny happy.

And sure, it did. Ginny's grin beamed like she had just been connected to a million-volt generator as she read the note. "You're so cute, do you know that?", she said and Hermione blushed.

"Well, I have to leave now. I have special training from tomorrow on, but I'll send you an owl as soon as I get some free time", Ginny said.

"Okay, but don't pressure yourself too much", Hermione replied.

Ginny nodded. The two witches stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them sure what to say next. Was this the moment you were supposed to kiss? Hermione thought it was, but first of all she felt still too shy to act on her feelings and secondly sharing their first kiss behind a bunch of smelly trash barrels wasn't exactly the most romantic thing to do either. So, she just said: "Well, see you soon then?"

"Yup", Ginny replied and quickly hugged her. As she pulled back her lips grazed Hermione's cheek ever so slightly. The touch sent shivers all over her body.

Ginny waved and disapparated.

Hermione quickly made a mental note to think of a good time and place for kissing Ginny for the first time.

She disapparated with a goofy smile on her face as the images started floating into her mind.


	14. More by accident than design

Chapter 14 – More by Accident than Design

The new year's first Monday had arrived. It had been harder than ever for Hermione to get out of bed and step outside the house to go to work. Her usual morning routine – washing up, a quick breakfast, preparing her lunchbox, walking to the Ministry – was slowly changing into torture.

After she had realized that her job was not making her as happy as she had hoped and that she probably would never reach her goals by constantly ducking her head and filing the same reports over and over again, she seriously considered quitting. The more she thought about the option, the more she had to acknowledge that it was the only right thing to do at the moment. There was nothing about the position that meant something to her at the moment. She wasn't close to her colleagues at all and even Sera could not be considered a friend; her boss preferred to work with Pansy Parkinson, the girl Hermione hated the most, the work was boring as hell, and no one really appreciated her efforts.

Still, there was one problem. Hermione had no idea what she should do instead. If she really was to quit, what would she do afterwards? Where should she go? Having no direction and no tangible options scared her. She reasoned that until she did not have a master plan, it would be best to just bear with the current situation and try to make the best out of it. Money was also an issue. She had some savings but they would allow her to keep her current lifestyle for around five months at best. And she did not want to move back in with her parents, since she had learned to appreciate the independence. Therefore, she would not quit for now. First, she had to find out what to do instead. What she wanted to do instead.

The thought haunted her all the way to work and Hermione wished she could talk to Ginny about it. Talking with her usually calmed her down and let her see things in a more objective way. Unfortunately, she had not been able to see Ginny since their first date. A few days ago, Ginny had sent and owl and explained that she could not meet Hermione until the game against the Montrose Magpies because the captain had them fly a ridiculous amount of extra and individual training sessions.

The thought about her future made Hermione's stomach ache, so she tried to focus on something, or someone else.

She closed her eyes and conjured the image of Ginny in her head. Her girlfriend. It still felt weird to call her that. "Ginny is my girlfriend", Hermione whispered into the cold January air. She couldn't help but smile as she said those words. Just thinking about Ginny chased her concerns away and substituted them with a warm and fuzzy feeling of tentative happiness.

Hermione felt like she slowly began to understand what love was supposed to mean. Thinking about Ron had usually just added to her existing worries, but thinking about Ginny was different in every way. When she was in a relationship with Ron or even with Victor, everything seemed to have happened too fast. She had never really felt ready for things like holding hands or kissing, let alone becoming intimate. But now she longed for the day she could hold Ginny's hand again and every night after their date she had dreamt about what their first kiss would be like.

She had thought of every possible scenario. Kissing Ginny after a quiet dinner, kissing her in the changing rooms at the Quidditch pitch, kissing her in an empty library, kissing her after dancing in the rain, kissing her on a field of flowers and so on. If these imaginations had something in common, it was that they all were incredibly romantic and perfect.

An especially cold breeze hitting her face brought Hermione back into reality. She shivered and crossed her arms over her chest before she increased her pace.

As usual she apparated into the Ministry's atrium where she met Sera. Together they walked towards the elevator as they did every day.

Hermione mustered him carefully as they talked about what they did over the holidays. She now understood why she never found a liking in him. He was good looking, smart and well dressed, but he was a man. He wasn't Ginny.

Then something strange happened. While they were talking, Sera's eyes were trained on the floor, but suddenly, they started to wander. Hermione followed his gaze and her eyes landed on a young wizard's…butt?!

Hold on! Hermione's eyes darted to Sera's face and she could recognize the faintest expression of excitement in his composed features. Was it what she thought it was? Was that the reason he never went out with one of the countless witches who tried to constantly seduce him? Interesting, Hermione thought.

Hermione decided to keep an eye on Sera from now on. Maybe they had more in common than she had assumed.

They entered the elevator with a group of officials and Hermione tried to catch Sera in the act again, but nothing suspicious happened.

"Is there something on my face, Miss Granger?", he suddenly asked.

Hermione startled. She had not noticed that he was staring at her as well.

"No, no", she stuttered. "I was just lost in thought, I didn't realize I was staring at you. Sorry."

Sera nodded and his lips twitched slightly in what could be interpreted as a smile.

They entered the office and Hermione walked to her desk. A quick glance at the over-time meter told her that Mrs. Woodstock had overtaken her again. Strangely, Hermione did not care at all. Whether she was in first or in last place, it did not matter to her anymore.

She sat down on her chair and started to skim over the pile of files that was waiting to be organized. Then she registered a movement in the corner of her eye and looked up. Hermione sighed as she recognized Pansy making her way towards her.

"Happy New Year, Granger", the pug-faced girl said.

"What do you want?", Hermione said dismissively.

"What's your deal, Granger? I simply whished you a happy new year", Pansy replied aggressively.

"Well, I don't need any good wishes from you. Especially after you just wasted my time with that useless book recommendation", Hermione retorted.

"Listen Granger, I don't know why you talk to me like this, but I really tried to help you", Pansy replied angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's unfortunate the book didn't help you, but I never said I was sure it would. It was simply an idea of mine. Figuring out the meaning of a prediction can be difficult, so-"

"I don't believe in that damned prediction anymore!", Hermione hissed with narrowed eyes. "And I never asked for your help", she added.

"Well you better believe in it or you'll ruin your life", Pansy said. "This kind of prediction is nothing to joke about. But almighty Hermione Granger is obviously not concerned by such banalities", she scoffed.

"Mind your own business and let me work in peace", Hermione said angrily and demonstratively scribbled something on a report file. She noticed Pansy walking away from the corner of her eye. Exhausted, she let the quill sink and exhaled a shaky breath. She had expected to feel empowered after standing up to Pansy, but she just felt empty. She wondered if Pansy was right and whether she should believe in the prediction again.

She had not thought about it for a while now, because it had brought more trouble than good and she still had no clue how to figure out its exact meaning. She had not noticed something that could be 'the sign' yet, nor had she met someone who might be the 'special person'. For a few days she had played with the thought that Ginny might be that person, but if she were something would have happened. Something that would have left her with no doubt that Ginny was this person.

Hermione tried to shrug off the thought and focus on the report in front of her. She didn't need any prediction to live her life properly she figured. Believing in it would only complicate things.

After a few hours of working Hermione was interrupted by a group of wizards and witches entering their office. She looked up and saw Mrs. Woodstock and Pansy coming out of the former's office.

"Hudson, Goblin Liaison Office", a middle-aged wizard who seemed to be the highest rank among the group said. He reached out and shook Pansy's hand. "You must be Miss Parkinson, I heard a lot."

"Nice to meet you", Pansy replied and grinned evilly. Or was it sheepishly? Hermione suddenly was not sure anymore.

She watched the group exchange a few more sentences before they left the office. She overheard Mrs. Woodstock talking about some kind of 'business' they had to attend to and couldn't help but wonder what this was all about. Since when had Pansy become that important? What were they up to? Hermione was becoming increasingly suspicious and the fact that she had no information at all was driving her crazy. She buried her face in her hands and wondered how she was going to endure the rest of the week. The upcoming Quidditch game where she would see Ginny was the only silver lining at the moment. But she had to wait until Saturday, which suddenly seemed like an eternity.

"Ron, stop it already!", Hermione hissed and snapped the green and golden harmonica from him. He had played it for almost an hour now, never taking a break for more than a minute. Her ears were hurting from the deafening 'Goooooo Harpieeeees!'- cheer that came out of it. "The game hasn't even started yet!"

"But Hermione!", Ron protested.

"You'll get it back when the game begins, honey", Sophie Abbott, who was sitting next to her boyfriend, said soothingly.

"Alright", Ron grunted but sheepishly so. They were a good couple, Hermione thought.

"Are you a Quidditch fan also?", Sophia asked Hermione.

"Not really, actually", Hermione replied.

Sophia eyed her suspiciously as her eyes flitted over Hermione's attire. "Ooookaaay", she said slowly.

"Oh you mean this?", Hermione pointed at her hat, which was a green and golden baseball cap with the Holy Harpies emblem on it. She also wore the matching scarf and over her coat she wore the Harpies fan cape that Luna had lent her for the occasion.

"Lately I've found myself more interested in the sport", she admitted. "But mostly I am supporting Ginny today, so that'd explain the outfit". She smiled at Sophie.

"That's nice of you", Sophie replied and smiled back at her.

"You never wore anything but a scarf to our matches!", Ron complained. "Even Luna, who was in Ravenclaw wore that weird lion hat all the time to support us."

"It wasn't weird!", Luna chimed in from behind of them.

"I liked it", Harry, who was sitting next to Luna, said. They smiled at each other for a moment and Hermione could almost see the sparks emitting from their eyes. This was going in a good direction, she thought happily.

"Yeah but the point is that Hermione never showed any interest in Quidditch and suddenly you're wearing all this stuff", Ron intervened and pointed his finger at Hermione's cap accusingly.

"Oh just stop it already Ron", Hermione reprimanded an rolled her eyes at his childishness.

"It's starting!", Neville, who was sitting to Hermione's right, said and suddenly an earsplitting noise rolled through the ranks that were bursting at the seams. It was the first league match of the year, so there were even more fans than usual. Black and white crowds on one side faced the green and yellow mass Hermione and her friends were stuck in.

Ron snapped his harmonica from Hermione's hand and started blowing and cheering right away. Apparently he had forgotten that he was fighting with Hermione just a second ago.

"Now they'll announce the players", Neville explained to Hermione. "Magpies are first, since they're guests."

Hermione nodded, thankful for the explanations.

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you the Montrose Magpies!", a familiar voice shot through the stadium and the black and white crowd roared.

"It's Lee Jordan commenting", Neville said.

One by one, Lee introduced the players and their positions and each of them flew a round around the pitch.

"And now, up for Seeker, let me introduce Cho Chang!", Lee shouted and half of the crowd went wild.

Hermione turned around to Harry who seemed as shocked by the news as she was. She looked around but the others did not seem surprised at all. She had heard from Ginny that especially Luna and Neville came to see almost every game, so they would now most of the players. Harry, who didn't have much spare time and Hermione, who had lacked interest, apparently were the only ones who hadn't heard of Cho Chang being Ginny's rival.

Ginny's worries made so much more sense now. Cho was an excellent seeker who played for an excellent team. If she really caught the snitch first, Ginny's position on the team could be seriously threatened, Hermione realized.

She snapped the harmonica from Ron again and blew it with all the strength she could summon just as Cho was passing them by. "Goooooo Haaaaarpiiieees" resonated from the harmonica even louder than before. Cho slightly turned her head as she flew by and the quick glance Hermione could get at her face revealed that Cho was even prettier than she had been a few years ago.

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you our beloved Holyhead Harpiiiiieeeees!", Lee's enthusiastic voice roared through the stadium. He was still not able to comment in an unbiased way, which made Hermione grin. This was an advantage for Ginny.

He introduced the Harpies one by one, starting with the captain Marina Bishop and Hermione also spotted the Korean beater they had met a few days ago. Finally, it was Ginny's turn.

"And now, I present you our Harpies' seeker, the best in the league - stunningly beautiful by the way - currently holding the record for the most snitch-catches this season, Ginnyyyyyy Weasleyyyyyy!"

Hermione frowned at Lee's remark but when Ginny emerged onto the field she had already forgotten about it and joined her friends in cheering and waving.

Accompanied by the fan's cheers, Ginny flew her round through the stadium and even performed a couple of tricks on her broom which had the crowd exploding in applause.

Hermione's heart started pounding wildly when she saw Ginny getting closer to where they were standing. It was the first time she saw her girlfriend since their first date, which was more than one week ago, which made her feel even more excited.

Ginny reached their ranks and performed a looping on her broom, which had the crowd roar once more. She stopped in the air for one second, smiled and winked at Hermione before she dashed away. Hermione sensed heat rising in her cheeks as she watched the redhead's quickly shrinking silhouette.

"Did she just wink at me? I told you she likes me!", a voice from behind caught her attention.

Hermione turned around and saw a young wizard, dressed in Harpies merch from head to toe. He was holding a banner with Ginny's face and her name on it.

"Stop talking nonsense, she winked at me!", a similarly dressed wizard said before he smacked his friend on the head.

Hermione's eyes narrowed and instantly a range of spells to make them shut up shot through her head. "She winked at me, you morons!", is what she wanted to scream at them. Instead she just glared at them for a few moments until Neville tapped her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing", she replied brusquely and turned her attention to the pitch again.

"You have to get used to it", Neville hissed into her ear. "Ginny has a bunch of ultra-fans who come to see her for every game."

How the hell could she ever get used to such idiots fanning over her girlfriend like this? Hermione pressed her lips together and stared at the players below them taking their positions.

"It's not easy to control one's jealousy, but you have to try", Neville said and his eyes wandered over to Harry and Luna who were clearly invading each other's personal space by now.

"I'm not jealous!", Hermione protested.

"Don't fool yourself", Neville said, sadness in his eyes. "And Ginny told me about – you know? Congrats." Neville smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"You too will find someone", Hermione replied and patted his back lightly. "Neville?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell anyone about me and Ginny okay?"

"Sure."

They both fell silent, each dwelling on their own thoughts while they did not notice the roaring crowd around them anymore.

Then a shrill whistle was blown and the game started. Hermione's eyes were on Ginny all the time. Only now she realized how beautiful Quidditch could be. Her girlfriend flew, swirled and twisted through the air so naturally as if she had been born to do just that. Her robe was tight fitted and her hair tied up in a loose ponytail. One moment she was on the bottom of the pitch, the next she suddenly hovered hundred feet over the ground. Sometimes she chased Cho, sometimes Cho chased her.

Hermione could not believe that she had used to think of Quidditch as boring. Now, she rose for every goal, shouted at the Magpies, cheered for the Harpies and every once in a while, stole Ron's harmonica.

She was especially fascinated by the bludgers and if she was not watching Ginny, her eyes followed one of them dashing toward the players. Somehow, Hermione envied their determination and sense of direction. They knew where to go and they took the fastest route possible to reach their aim. Hopefully, Hermione too would be like this someday.

The game was going on for over an hour now and both teams were evenly matched. The current score was 100:90 for the Magpies, but Hermione could already see a Harpies chaser getting ready to score again.

"Fabray scores!", Lee's voice roared through the stadium and once again Hermione found herself cheering and clapping enthusiastically.

From the corner of her eye she suddenly saw Ginny leaning in for a nose-dive. Cho Chang had obviously realized it too and followed the redhead at a three feet distance. But Ginny was faster. She stretched out her arm and pulled her broomstick upwards the exact same moment. She held up her arm and Hermione noticed the faint glim of gold. Ginny had caught the snitch!

She screamed and jumped up from her chair. The whole green and golden crowd did the same and soon she hugged Neville and then Ron and couldn't stop jumping up and down. Her girlfriend had caught the snitch and led the Holyhead Harpies to a win! Her girlfriend! Now Ginny wouldn't have to worry about her position in the team anymore!

"Ginny Weasley caught the snitch!", Lee Jordan shouted in a deafening volume. "The Harpies wiiiiiiin!"

The game was over and Hermione and her friends had walked down from the ranks to wait for Ginny outside the changing rooms. Only friends and family were allowed here, so luckily there were no weird fan-boys around anymore.

One by one, the players came outside and welcomed their families or friends. Impatiently, Hermione waited for Ginny to come out. She knew they should not act carelessly in front of Ron and Harry, but she just wanted to see her girlfriend so badly, even though it meant that they had to keep their distance.

Suddenly she felt something pull on her sleeve. She looked down and saw Mingki, the House Elf. "Miss Granger, Miss Weasley wants to see you", the elf whispered.

"Why would she want to see Hermione?", Ron, who had been overhearing them, asked curiously.

"Miss Weasley wants to know about a spell from the book Miss Granger made for her", Mingki replied. "She will come outside after hearing Miss Granger's explanation."

"Tell her to hurry up", Ron growled before he turned around to chat with his girlfriend.

Hermione only scowled at him and followed Mingki towards the changing rooms. Her heartbeat had increased at least tenfold, or so it felt. She was about to see Ginny. Alone. In the changing rooms. It was like one of the scenes she had fantasized about.

Hermione entered the changing rooms and Mingki scooted off in another direction. Green benches and lockers were scattered around the room and steam was coming from a door that must lead to the showers.

Hermione nervously cleared her throat. "Ginny?", she rasped.

"Hello girlfriend." Ginny emerged from behind a set of lockers and grinned at Hermione widely. She had changed into a pair of jeans and a white sweatshirt that had Snoopy on it. Her hair was now falling over her shoulders in beautiful long waves.

Hermione gulped nervously as Ginny slowly approached her. "H-hi Ginny", she uttered and clasped her hands into the fabric of her coat in order to get rid of the sweat that was forming in her palms. "You were amazing today."

Ginny halted her steps only inches away from Hermione and took her hands in her own. Hermione looked up right into warm brown eyes that were watching her affectionately. Her nervousness increased even more and she felt more jittery than the day she first entered Hogwarts.

"Did you watch me?", Ginny asked quietly, her eyes glued to Hermione's.

"I did", Hermione whispered. "You were incredible."

"The thought of you cheering for me gave me that little extra strength…and the spells you taught me", Ginny breathed. "Oh my, that was cheesy", she added with a grin.

When had Ginny's face come so close to hers? Hermione's eyes dropped to Ginny's lips and her mouth twitched nervously. She had been kissed before, but why did she feel so nervous? Probably because she actually wanted to be kissed this time.

Ginny, who had noticed Hermione's staring, blushed under her freckles. She shortened the distance between their faces until Hermione could feel her girlfriend's breath brushing over her lips and nose. It was a warm and pleasant feeling which sent goosebumps all over her back.

"I'm going to collect my trophy now", Ginny whispered barely audible. She let go of one of Hermione's hands and cupped her cheek. Slowly, Ginny pulled Hermione's head towards her to close the remaining distance between them. Hermione's eyes fluttered and went shut as she waited for the new sensation that would await her.

"I'll be right back!", someone suddenly called from near the doors.

Hermione and Ginny flinched and jumped apart in the fraction of a second.

"Oh you're still here, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" It was Sinae Kim, the beater they had met on their first date. She looked from Ginny to Hermione and a knowing grin spread on her face.

"No, no, you're not interrupting anything", Ginny stuttered. "We were just…just…"

"Talking", Hermione finished for her. It was the first thing that came to her mind. However, Sinae's grin just widened.

"So, so", she said. "Anyways, I left something in my locker."

She strode to one of the lockers, opened it and pulled out a small bag. Hermione and Ginny watched her silently not able to come up with natural conversation that would've rendered the situation less suspicious.

"See you! And have fun!", Sinae piped, shooting them one last knowing grin.

"We should get going too. The others are waiting for us", Hermione finally said.

"Okay", Ginny replied sheepishly. She grabbed her bag and coat from her locker and together they left the changing rooms.

"Finally!", Ron said dramatically as if they had been gone for hours. Hermione watched her friends congratulating Ginny, but she wasn't listening to what they were saying. Her thoughts traveled back to the moment they had almost kissed. She clenched her fists and wanted nothing more than to stamp her feet in frustration. Just one more second and they would have kissed. One second! She should've just grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and kissed her before they went outside. She mentally kicked her butt for being such a coward earlier.

The perfect chance to have their first kiss – ruined! They would spend the remainder of the day with their friends, which meant she had missed the only chance to kiss Ginny today.

Hermione wallowed in her self-pity some more until she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?", Luna asked worriedly. "You seem really out of it."

Hermione nodded and forced a smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm fine", she assured.

Luna's expression changed from concern to curiosity as a thought seemed to occur to her. "Did you do it?", she whispered with wide eyes.

"Do what?", Hermione asked perplexedly.

"Kissing, of course", Luna replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not yet", Hermione replied embarrassedly. "But it's no big deal, right? I mean, it's just kissing. It's not as if we have never tried it before." She tried to sound nonchalantly, but Luna didn't seem convinced.

"You're nervous." It was a statement rather than a question. Knowing Luna, Hermione stopped acting and just nodded.

"I never kissed a woman… And I never kissed someone I was actually in love with", she whispered. Her eyes wandered over to Ginny, who was currently chatting with Ron, Neville, Harry and Sophia.

Luna snickered quietly. "Ginny is as nervous as you are", she said.

"Really? How do you know?", Hermione asked in surprise.

"She didn't tell me directly, but I can see it", Luna explained. "Oh and she never kissed a girl before either."

Hermione didn't reply anything while she thought about that new piece of information. She had assumed that Ginny would handle their new situation more coolly than herself, but the redhead seemed as inexperienced as she was.

"How is it going with you and Harry?", she asked in an attempt to change the topic.

"W-what do you mean?", Luna stuttered, suddenly looking as nervous as Hermione had a few moments before.

Hermione grinned in amusement. "Come one, don't tell me the looks you two are exchanging all the time don't mean anything."

"We agreed to uhm meet more often from now on", Luna said and actually blushed a little, which was a rare occurrence for the usually pale witch.

"Great! I'm glad to hear you're doing well", Hermione said happily.

"I'm concerned about Neville, though", Luna sighed. "He's one of my best friends and I feel like I'm betraying him."

"Don't worry too much", Hermione said as a sudden idea crossed her mind. She would have to talk to Sera on Monday.

"I think we should leave. They're starting to clean the pitch", Luna stated.

"Right, I'll tell the others", Hermione agreed. She quickly strode over to the group of friends who were standing a few feet away from Hermione and Luna.

She walked up on Ginny, who had her back to Hermione, and tapped her shoulder.

Surprised at the touch, Ginny winced and turned her head in a sudden movement the same second Hermione was leaning forward to say something to her. But Hermione couldn't say anything, because her lips were locked by…Ginny's mouth?!

Both girls' eyes went wide before they jumped apart as if the other's lips were burning hot.

Hermione's hand shot to her lips and touched them in shock. She looked around and found all eyes on them. Neville and Luna looked as shocked as she was, but Ron, Sophia and Harry were laughing.

"Did you just kiss accidentally?", Ron laughed. "I thought this only happens in those weird Muggle movies dad told me about."

Hermione looked over to Ginny who also had her mouth covered with one hand. She started laughing nervously and Luna and Neville joined in.

Harry however, started to eye Ginny suspiciously. Oh no, he mustn't know!, Hermione thought trying to think of something smart to say.

"It's not as if we have never kissed someone before, so let's just forget about it", she beamed nonchalantly, even though her knees were shaking from nervousness. "Where should we celebrate? Giant's Belly? Leaky Cauldron?"

With this, the matter was forgotten and a lively discussion started.

Somehow Ginny found her way to stand right next to Hermione as the discussion went on. Ginny's cheeks had reddened significantly. "Your lips feel nice", Ginny mumbled without looking at Hermione.

"Yours too", Hermione whispered.

Both women grinned sheepishly while they watched their friends discussing.

Hermione sighed and shook her head, but smiled at the same time. There was no perfect place nor a perfect time for their first kiss. It happened when it happened. And it had been great. With this realization, Hermione stepped forward, cut off Ron's speech and said:

"Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron! Today, everything's on me!"

A/N: In case you consider the kiss scene unrealistic, check 'Jennifer Lawrence kisses Natalie Dormer', it was the inspiration for this chapter. Please leave a review and tell me what you think of this chapter. It's highly appreciated!


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